Cure Seekers
by dtill359
Summary: When Earth is assaulted by an alien force, Terran humanity's champions, the Star Force, have no choice but to set out on a quest for a cure to what ails their homeworld. Along the way they encounter resistance, meet new friends, and forge through the fires of tribulation to see an ancient promise fulfilled. AU. "The Sands of Time Are Sinking", Book 2
1. What's Gone on Before

**What's Gone on Before**

Time is running out for Gamilon as it suffers from a planet-killing virus. Its ruler, Leader Desslok, has found a way to save his people from their impending doom, but to do it, he must exterminate the inhabitants of the world he has chosen to be the Gamilon people's new home – Earth. Now Terran humanity's world is riddled with deadly radiation that has forced the entire population underground in order to survive.

But Gamilon's twin world has protested the Leader's act, and, unbeknownst to Desslok, Queen Starsha of Iscandar has sent her sister Astra to Earth with a message of hope, giving them a way to restore their world as well as a means to defend themselves from Gamilon's military might. But will they give credence to a message from an unknown source?

It is here that we join the story once again.


	2. Prologue

**Prologue**

Wings rustled and pure light surrounded him.

The angel dared not look up to see the source of either sound or sight. The rustling was the seraphim, he knew, but he had never seen one of his six-winged brethren – unless the Lucifer the Fallen qualified. To raise his head while in the presence of the Almighty, even to simply quell his curiosity, was unthinkable. The light... the Shekinah... was so terrible and awesome that should he look fully upon it, it would be too much for him.

"Sovereign." the angel bowed low before his Lord, never even hinting at raising his eyes to meet Shaddai's. "I have come as You decreed."

The only sound was the song of the seraphim as they flew high above the throne of the Almighty.

Then, a voice like thunder, with the majesty of a thousand roaring fountains of water uttered, "Arach. Well done."

"I thank You, my Lord." Arach replied, "It is an honor to be a messenger to the world of men. Though its glory has faded since the Beginning, it remains a sight to behold."

Again there was silence, and Arach waited, the whisking of wings through the air and the melody of reverence filling the void between the Almighty and His creature.

That void was suddenly filled when Shaddai announced, "Your face shall not be seen again by mortal eyes until the promise I have made to Earth itself has been proven to man once again."

"They have tried to test it so many times, Sovereign..." Arach replied, downcast.

To the angel's surprise, Shaddai began to laugh, a melodic sound that could have soothed the most tumultuous soul. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, a hand marred by men. "A'dam's seed has tried many times to prove its independence from Me."

"Elohim..." Arach smiled and finally raised his face to look into the eyes of the one mortals called "Christ."

"But they have never and will never be able to separate themselves from Me, for I am their Maker. Shall the thing formed say to the One who formed it, 'Why hast Thou made me thus?'" said Elohim.

At this Arach's face fell. "One has."

"Yes," Elohim nodded, "Yes, one has, just as many others have before him." The Son of Shaddai's expression did not waver. "He will know My reasons someday, Arach. Do not be dismayed by the demands of the one you must now follow. He does not know the mind of Shaddai, nor is he a son of Shaddai that he should have fellowship with Him."

"I know this, Elohim... I simply cannot fathom his reasoning most of the time. It is... troubling at the least."

Elohim nodded again, "He denies Shaddai; his reasoning will not be sound."

Arach sighed and was silent for a moment, then asked the question that had been weighing on his mind ever since he had returned from the wilderness of Gamilon. "Is this one so significant, my Lord? Why not put more effort into one a bit less... infuriatingly stubborn?"

Elohim did not reply with words, instead He simply met His creature's gaze with a look that left him in speechless silence for so long that Arach thought he would never find his tongue again, but finally he did and in horrified regret he stuttered, "I – I am sorry my Lord... I did not mean to question such – such –" he again lost all words.

Elohim smiled graciously and nodded, "I understand, Arach, you need not apologize. The mind of Shaddai is not something to be easily fathomed by one not a part of Him."

Arach tried to reply, but gave up and finally just nodded and said simply, "Yes, my Lord..." he bowed his head, humbled again by the words of Elohim. As soon as his face turned from Elohim, Arach sensed His presence shift and he feared to lift his gaze again, knowing that it was now with Shaddai that he spoke once again.

"Now, Arach. You see a small portion of what I have for my Creation. Are you now content to return to your place in the world of men?" the Sovereign asked, knowing already the answer He would receive.

"I am." Arach breathed, a thrill running through him as he remembered what he had just seen in Elohim's eyes.

"Good." the Sovereign replied, a smile in His words. "You will not be alone."

Arach's eyes widened when he heard this. _"Who...?"_ the question was still echoing in his mind when he heard his Lord's voice again.

"Arkan." Shaddai summoned.

Almost immediately another angel appeared next to Arach. He too bowed low before Shaddai.

"Sovereign." he addressed his Lord in reverence.

"You will go to the world of men as well, but like your brother, mortal eyes shall not behold your face until mankind has tested my promise to them once again." said Shaddai.

"Why do they test Your promises so often, Sovereign?" Arkan questioned, a bit of fire igniting in the second angel's eyes. "Do they so soon forget that You cannot lie?"

Arach looked over at his brother, agreeing with his sentiments, but also changed by the revelation he had received from the Son of Shaddai, and though he sympathized with Arkan, he could not share his anger.

The Sovereign did not reply immediately, but when He did, there was sadness in His voice.

"Men think themselves able to live without Me. So many of them have tried; and so many of them have perished in their rebellion. They do not understand that even the most 'insignificant' one among them is most precious to Me. I have given them so many images of My love for them... and they, with the help of the Fallen one, have distorted them all so that few see the true glory that still resides in those marred images." Then Shaddai fell silent.

The seraphim song rolled on, filling the void, and lending a measure of comfort to the angels after Shaddai's sad words.

The moment was short-lived.

"I seem to have heard my name called." an irreverent voice sounded quite suddenly from behind Arach and Arkan. The two immediately whirled and drew the swords of light they always bore when in Shaddai's realm.

"Lucifer!" Arkan spat the name of the rebel seraph. "You've no right –"

"Peace, Arkan." Shaddai stayed the angel. "He is here for a purpose."

Grudgingly, Arkan obeyed and fell immediately silent. Arach never said a word, merely gazing with suspicion at the Fallen one who, to both angels' not-so-secret amusement, was forced to lower his own gaze to the ground before the presence of the Sovereign.

"Now," Shaddai's voice thundered, "As all have now gathered, I will make my decree to you."

No one spoke, not even Lucifer, and Arach and Arkan turned to fall on bended knee before the Sovereign; Lucifer still stood, but his eyes remained averted.

Shaddai spoke again, and the very foundation of Heaven rumbled with the absolute authority of His words. "Men have the will to choose whether or not they will come to Me; as it has always been, none of you will force the choice of eternity upon any soul. It is their choice, not yours."

Lucifer visibly flinched at the words of the Sovereign as Arach and Arkan nodded in complete agreement.

"Destroyer!" The name rang through the throne room and the Fallen Seraph's face turned wrathful, but he dared not let his anger boil over.

"Yes. Most. High." Lucifer replied through gritted teeth.

"Should you try to force this choice upon _any_, these, my servants, have My authority to hinder you." Shaddai said, his voice carrying the weight of omniscient eternity.

"Yes. Most. High." Lucifer repeated, unwilling to say anything more.

"Go." the Sovereign bid the Fallen one.

Instantly, Lucifer was gone and the two angels breathed relieved sighs.

"Stand to your feet, servants of Light." Arkan and Arach found themselves looking upon two pierced feet and they both stood, now before Elohim. "There is much I would tell you before you depart for the world of men. Your stay will be long as men measure the creature they call 'Time,' and sometimes there will not seem to be much to do, but you must always be aware of the Destroyer and his servants." Elohim paused and looked first at Arkan, then Arach. "Do not seem so burdened, sons of Shaddai. I AM the beginning and the end. I know what was, what is, and what is to come, and My Spirit has already gone before you. He guides My redeemed ones into all truth, and He will never fail to communicate the will of Shaddai to them, for He is a part of the Sovereign, as I AM." a sudden calm fell between the two angels, and Elohim added, "Even though My Spirit cannot live in you as He does my sons and daughters, I AM with you, as I have always been. Now come, and I will prepare you for the task at hand."

* * *

**Prologue Inspired by:**  
\- "My Eyes Have Seen the Savior" from the Herbster Evangelistic Ministries CD "Expressions of Gratitude."


	3. Episode 1: Facing the Enemy

**Episode 1: Facing the Enemy**

"Captain! They're closing in on our position." The radar man exclaimed from his station, the fear in his eyes, evident.

"Increase our speed." Abraham Avatar, captain of the Earth Defense Force flagship 227 ordered in a last-ditch effort to shake off the enemy fleet.

"We're straining the engine as it is, Captain." The familiar voice of his old friend and trusted engineer Patrick Orion announced from the engine room. "She's about to shake herself apart if we keep up this speed.

"Fleet status." Said Avatar, his captain's hat sinking down into its usual position, almost hiding his eyes from view. His white hair and beard seemed to become even more snowy with every battle lost to this alien force and every man he lost to them.

"We're going down fast, Sir." The radar man replied again, "We're lost all but five ships and – no… four, and this flagship."

The captain stood quietly for half a second, then opened his mouth to speak.

"Incoming missile!" the radar man exclaimed. "It's heading right for – "

He was cut off when the round slammed into the ship very near the bridge, exploding violently and sending the front viewport shattering into a million deadly pieces. The shrapnel cut through the thick ship air. Chunks of metal, glass, and thick plastic, like knives, sliced through the bridge.

Screams of pain and bellows of wrath echoed all through the bridge. Blood was all over the floor and walls in places where men and woman had failed to get out of the way of some of the bigger pieces of debris. More than one curse flew at the despised invaders.

The lights on the bridge went out and the artificial gravity suddenly kicked off, sending every loose object in the room racing through the air towards the ragged hole in the front of the ship. The lifeless bodies of the dead were sucked towards the opening, but didn't get the chance to escape. The safety locks sealed the gaping hole within seconds, stopping the outflow of air and debris.

Captain Avatar, who'd been knocked to his knees by the blast, struggled to his feet. He winced, a sudden pain searing into his right side. He looked down, and in the crimson emergency lights, he could see an ugly shard sticking out of his side.

He glanced around quickly, wanting to know if anyone had noticed his injury. Seeing that the crew was still recovering from their own falls or injuries and seemed none the wiser to his condition, he pulled his captain's coat around him and made sure that it was buttoned closed, completely concealing his bloody wound.

"Everyone up!" he ordered, sadly noting that there were a few who would never stand again. "Status!"

The voices of his crew, less a few, replied.

"Significant damage to decks one through seven, fires reported on deck four, power is running off of the emergency generator until the main power core can be repaired and restarted."

"How long?" Avatar questioned immediately.

The crewman who had given the report listened carefully to the head of the repair team, then replied, "Ten minutes, Captain."

"It's too long!" Avatar replied, "Do it in seven or we won't be seeing Earth again."

"Yes, Sir!" the crewman replied, relaying the message to the repair team.

"Captain!" another crewman exclaimed, "Message from the _Yukikaze_. They have what we came for. They've got the information on the enemy's base on Pluto!"

"What's the status of the fleet?" the captain asked again.

"We have –" the radar man's face fell, "It's just us, Captain, us and _Yukikaze_… The rest are… all gone…"

"Let's get out of here. Helmsman," Avatar ordered, "Turn us around."

"Captain, the repair crew isn't finished yet."

Avatar took a deep, painful breath, nearly wincing, "We have to get out of here, no matter what." He said, the determination in his voice, bolstering the flagging crew, "Go as quickly as we can on reserve power until the core is back on line."

"Yes, Sir." The helmsman replied, "But I don't think we'll get very far."

"That is not your call to make, Helmsman." Avatar chided.

"Yes… Sir." The helmsman replied, rebuked. "Turning the ship about now."

The flagship turned sluggishly and was instantly a target for a thick patch of enemy ships that had seen the Earth-ship in distress and closed in for the kill like sharks swarming a wounded fish.

"They're surrounding us, Captain!" The radar man announced, a shade of panic thick and heavy in his young voice," Enemy fire closing in!"

"Evasive maneuvers." Avatar ordered.

The helmsman responded as quickly as he could, avoiding some of the barrage, but catching several hits squarely in the already scarred hull.

The ship rocked violently. Avatar reached out and clutched the nearest console so hard that his hand felt like it would never be able to unmold itself from the metal. But better that than hitting the floor again and jarring his already burning side into a more irritated state. Sado Sane at Central Hospital – another old friend of his – would have to see to it when they made it back to Earth – or rather, _if_ they made it back.

"Another round like that, Captain and we'd just as well kiss the universe good-bye." The voice of Patrick Orion sounded over the ship's comm.

"_We didn't come here to die."_ Avatar thought, gritting his teeth, "What's the status on the core?"

"Two minutes, Captain." The repair team leader replied.

"I told you seven minutes, crewman. It's been six. You have sixty seconds. Make it count!" the Captain countered.

"Yes, Sir." Came the reply.

"_We won't make it like this." _The Captain thought, desperately searching for something, some way to get the rest of his men out of this death-trap and back home to their Earth, scarred though she was by Gamilon's poison. _"Lord, bring us back home. These men are in my charge. I have already failed so many of them. Please, help me to keep my promise to the rest of them..."_

"Sir, enemy ships are charging weapons." One of the crew announced.

"_No…"_ Avatar closed his eyes, not yet ready to accept the deaths of his men, but unsure of how to avoid it now.

"Captain!" the radar man exclaimed.

Avatar's eyes shot open.

"Captain it's the _Yukikaze_! She's moving to intercept the enemy ships – no, she's luring them away, distracting them! Captain, the enemy ships are _all_ following _Yukikaze_!"

"Get Captain Wildstar on the comm line!" Avatar ordered. "Now!"

"Yes, Sir!"

An instant later the voice of young Captain Alex Wildstar echoed through the flagship bridge. If the ship's power had been restored, light brown hair and fierce brown eyes would have stared determinedly into the faces of every one of Captain Avatar's living bridge crew. Instead, Alex's stalwart voice rang through the ship.

"Go! We'll draw their fire while you get out of here." The young captain said.

"Wildstar, no!" Avatar's first reaction was to protest. What Alex was proposing meant certain death for him and the sixteen other men on _Yukikaze_.

"We've all decided, Captain. We're doing this for our home, for those we've spent our lives protecting – our spouses, children, parents, friends. They're all our responsibility."

That instant, the flagship's main power flickered back on.

"We're sending you the information we retrieved now. Take it home, Captain. Take it home and come back to Pluto soon and kick these parasites out of our solar system." There was a second of dead air, and Avatar could hear Wildstar taking a deep breath. Then the young captain said, "I'll see you later."

"Wildstar! Wildstar!" Avatar tried to bring the other captain back up on the comm, but failed, "On screen!" he finally ordered, and watched with a mix of horror and sadness as _Yukikaze_ sailed off, the enemy ships pursuing her at top speed.

The flagship bridge was deathly silent, heavy emotions echoed through them all. A sense of deep loss sank through Avatar's heart as he watched _Yukikaze_ disappear into a bright ball of light and he fought back the wave of grief that came over him.

"All ahead full." Avatar ordered his voice gravelly and tight, "We're going home."

None of the crew questioned him, but as they moved as quickly as they could out of the battle zone, the entire bridge was silent.

Once they were out of Pluto space, the radar man finally broke the silence.

"Captain…" he said hesitantly.

"Yes, crewman." Avatar replied slowly, "You have something constructive to say?"

"Yes, Captain." He replied, "During the… battle… there was a ship that showed up briefly on our radar."

"And the significance of it?" Avatar urged.

"Sir, it wasn't ours. But it also wasn't Gamilon."

At this, the bridge went silent again, but this time the silence was a haunted one.

"It – it could have been a ghost image." The helmsman offered.

"That was no ghost." The radar man replied. "It was a ship. And it was headed straight for Mars' orbit."

"Notify the EDF of this." Avatar ordered, "and send them any telemetry data we have on this third entity."

"Yes, Sir." The communications officer immediately began sending everything they had gathered back home to Earth.

"_Lord, give me strength to walk the road You've laid out for me."_ The Captain prayed as he left the bridge so that he could rest in his quarters, and try to keep his wound from getting any worse. He would have to summon one of the few ship medics they had been able to bring with them. Either that or bleed out slowly before they even reached Neptune's orbit. _"Help me…"_ he began, but couldn't finish as the reality of what he had just lost settled on his heavy heart.

"_Adam… why did you have to be assigned to _Yukikaze…_?"_ With that the captain stepped through the door to his quarters and sat slowly on the small bed and wept for the son he had just lost.

* * *

"Whoa!" Cadet Derek Wildstar, one of the two new graduates of the Space Academy back on Earth was nearly knocked off his feet when the ground rumbled beneath him. "What was that? A train wreck next door?"

"It probably has something to do with whatever just crash landed a few miles from here." Mark Venture, the other lucky Cadet who'd been assigned to the observation post replied blandly, rolling his eyes at Wildstar's characteristically exaggerated expressions. "We just received a message from EDF headquarters saying that the returning Pluto fleet saw something headed our way."

"Gamilon?" Wildstar asked, a look of ferocity suddenly lighting up his eyes.

"No…" Venture replied, a little annoyed with Derek's constant thirst for conflict. "The little data they were able to get didn't match anything we know about Gamilon."

"Could be some new ship." Derek countered.

"I highly doubt that." Venture replied, "The basic ship construction isn't anything like any of the Gamilon ships we've ever encountered."

"Oh, and I suppose you're an expert on these things." Wildstar replied, skeptically.

"No, I just pay attention when we get those reports every week from HQ."

"Oh… Those…" Derek avoided Mark's gaze, feeling the slightest bit stupid for about two seconds. "So, let's go check it out."

"Check what out?"

"The wreck." Derek replied, instantly snatching his helmet from its hook. The bright red headgear was hard to miss in the dingy gray building. "We can't just sit here when there's something like that out there waiting for us."

Venture sighed heavily, "All right, he relented, but I want to go on record as being against this. We should wait until the Pluto fleet gets here."

"And does what? Fly by in orbit and scan it with their sensors? Come on, Venture. It's just not the same as getting a close look. Plus, they'll be itching to get home. They aren't going to want to hang around here for half an hour to look at some ship that couldn't even manage settle into proper orbit."

"Alright, alright. Let's just go and get back and be done with it." Venture surrendered, grabbing his own bright red flight helmet.

The two young men made sure their suits were sealed and air leak-free.

Within ten minutes they were ready to go.

The flight to the crash site took less than three minutes.

"There." Venture pointed out the window of the scout ship, "It looks like an escape pod."

"The ship looks to be a good distance that way." Wildstar pointed to the west, "They had to have ejected right before or right after they entered the atmosphere.

"Either way, that pod hit hard. It looks like – Wildstar, there's a body down there!"

Derek's eyes widened as he saw what his partner had. There, lying in the red sands of Mars, lay the still form of a woman.

"We've got to get down there. She might still be alive." With that Derek took the ship down as quickly as he dared.

The two leapt out of the craft almost as soon as her runners touched the sand.

They sprinted through the thick sand, their legs going much slower than they would have liked due to the terrain, but finally they reached the woman's side.

Derek reached down and propped the woman's body up and checked for some indication of a pulse, or any sign of life. The vitals monitor in his suit returned negative.

Derek shook his head sadly, "She's dead…" he looked more closely at her and after a very long look he added, "She's beautiful…"

The woman's long blonde hair flowed down onto the sand so elegantly that Derek hated to disturb it any further. Her long violet dress hid all of her body, except her delicate hands. They were a pale color, somewhere close to Venture's skin-tone.

"Who is she…?" Derek asked, more to himself than to Venture.

"Don't know…" Mark replied anyway, "There are no indications of her world of origin. Where do you think she's from?"

"How should I know? Why was she out as far as Pluto space anyway? She looks like she could be from Earth."

"Not in _that_ ship." Mark replied, indicating the sleek, golden vessel they could see jutting out of the sand just on the far horizon. "So it's not just us and Gamilon anymore then. There's someone else out there."

"What's this?" Derek suddenly exclaimed. He reached out and touched the woman's left hand, which appeared to be wrapped around something. "Whatever it is, it must have been very important to her." He managed to pry open her fingers enough to remove the object. He held it up for Mark to see. "What do you think it is?"

"I have no idea." Venture replied, "But we have to take back everything we can. What we don't get, one of the Pluto ships will have to pick up. This is too important of a find to leave any of it here."

"Agreed." Derek replied, "But let's get her," he looked down at the dead woman again, "and this… thing," he studied the strange crimson tube, its core of blue light pulsing as he held it, "back to the outpost." He scooped up the stranger and carefully transported her spent body back to the ship.


	4. Episode 2: Defeat - Pluto Fleet Returns

**Episode 2: Defeat: The Pluto Fleet Returns**

Captain Abraham Avatar stared out into the expanse of space from his cramped quarters onboard flagship 227 – the last of the EDF's true flagships; the rest had been destroyed one by one by the Gamilon warships.

Here, so far from the conflict at Pluto, it was quiet; but the silence was not one filled with peace, but rather, with anxiety and sadness. Nearly everyone on the ship had lost someone they knew in the conflict, not just this one battle, but during this entire ordeal.

One day the world had simply changed. Avatar remembered that day much too well; it was the day he'd lost his wife and daughter; it was also the day that he had marched into Charles T. – Thaddeus – Singleton's office and in anger and grief declared that the American military was obligated to respond to this threat immediately.

Singleton – then head of the United States' armed forces – had responded in his usual level-headed way and assured "Abraham," as he had been known then, that measures would be taken.

A mere two weeks later, the Earth Defense Force was born and its headquarters established in an office complex in Tokyo, Japan. Thaddeus had been called on to head up the organization and had, of course, readily accepted the appointment.

But Avatar's old friend hadn't left him to grieve alone. Thaddeus had lost his own family in the same assault the Abraham had, though he hadn't discovered his own loss until several days after the attack. The new Commander-to-be was brought in to identify the bodies of his son and daughter-in-law.

Their deaths left Thaddeus to look after his only grand-daughter, ten year old Wendy, a shy red-headed girl with an intellect Thaddeus knew would take her far in life.

"_Nine years…"_ Avatar thought, _"Has it really been so long since it all began...?"_

The ship's recycled air felt cold, infused with the chill of space. It made him want to retreat to a warm corner and stay there for the remained of his time in space.

Travel off-world was becoming more and more cumbersome with every passing year. His health wasn't as good as it could be. Genetics and old age had set in and were beginning to overtake him. But in all of this, Abraham still held to the Lord who had brought him through it all. In good times, or in bad, the old captain had always had one Friend always with him. When his family was killed, the only stay he had been left with was God himself, and Abraham and He had had many a long conversation since then.

The Captain stared at his reflection in the viewport, _"Man was not created to live like this… in fear… hiding underground from the death that rains down on us now. Surely Earth herself was meant for better than this, Lord."_

"Captain?"

There was a knock at the door.

"Yes." Avatar answered.

The door opened and the XO stepped in, the door closing behind him.

"Sir, I know we suffered… tremendous losses… but… there is something that must be brought to your attention."

Captain Avatar, suddenly very aware of his new wound, made sure that his coat concealed the temporary dressing the ship's medic had put on for him.

"What is it?" Avatar asked, his eyes never leaving the starry expanse.

"EDF headquarters received information about a ship that crashed on Mars sometime during our… encounter. They've requested that we go to Mars and retrieve the wreckage along with the two cadets stationed at the observation post there; cadets Venture and Wildstar."

At the last name Avatar's eyes widened for the briefest second, "'Wildstar,' you say?"

"Yes, Sir. I believe he is… Captain Wildstar's younger brother." The XO replied cautiously.

Avatar nodded, finally turning his head to look at the other man, but carefully keeping his wounded side hidden from the officer. "I see." The captain paused, a hundred thoughts crowding into his mind all at once. "The ship – it's one of ours?"

The XO hesitated, "No – no, Sir, not ours." There was another pause, "And not _theirs_ either."

Avatar's face turned from sad to grim. "Survivors?"

The officer took a breath and waited just a moment too long to reply.

"They're dead then." Avatar interjected soberly.

"Yes…" the officer replied. "There was one crewman, apparently female. The report from the Mars station says it looks like she was thrown from her escape pod when it hit dirt. The pod seems to have malfunctioned; its propulsion system was offline and when it crashed, it opened and threw the woman clear. She died on impact."

The Captain nodded, "Make the arrangements for the retrieval."

"Yes, Sir." The officer saluted, his right fist resting over his heart in the standard EDF gesture. Then he turned and left, sending the captain's quarters once again into tense silence, but this time it was tinged with dread.

* * *

"Venture, the ship's here to make the pickup. You ready?" Wildstar called back to Mark who was slowly closing his luggage bag back in the cramped eight by eight room that he and Derek had shared for their stint on Mars – time that had just screeched to an abrupt halt because of this strange incident.

Mark and Derek had known each other at the Earth Defense Academy, but hadn't really been good friends until their last year there. Mark took so much time on weekends and holidays to spend with his family while Derek always moped around campus during the breaks.

The two were very different, but those differences seemed to balance each other out well and as a result, the two had survived their time on Mars without too many disagreements getting out of hand.

"Coming!" Mark belted back. He secured his helmet, shouldered his bag, and stepped out of the tiny living space. On his way out he noticed the char mark on the wall and nearly burst out laughing at the sight of it. Some of Wildstar's stunts during their isolation here hadn't ended so well, but some of them had at least been entertaining.

"If you don't hurry up the ship will have picked up the wreck and left by the time we get there!" Wildstar's voice crackled through Mark's helmet-mic now.

"I know, I know. I'll be there in thirty seconds." Venture shook his head and muttered to himself, "Just as impatient as ever."

"Hey, I heard that." Came the response.

"Just wait up." Mark replied.

Venture arrived before his estimated thirty seconds expired and boarded the small plane they would use to rendezvous with the flagship.

As he stepped on board he noticed an antiseptic smell. "What's with the doctor's office odor?" he asked into his mic.

"EDF wanted everything hosed down after we put the 'alien' and 'alien artifacts' on board." Derek replied, a bit annoyed, "General Stone and his usual paranoia about 'icky germs infecting the rest of the sorry population of Earth before we all die.'"

Venture fought to keep from laughing at the other cadet's impersonation of Commander Singleton's second in command.

"Well, at least we don't have to spend the entire trip home in here." Venture replied.

The only response he got was a laugh.

Mark shook his head at his friend's reply and quickly made his way up to the cockpit so that they could leave.

Fifteen minutes later they saw flagship 227 waiting above the crash site.

"Permission to dock." Wildstar hailed the other ship.

"Permission granted." Came the reply.

Wildstar piloted the ship into the hangar and docked in one of the empty bays. As soon as the ship was securely in its place, Wildstar and Venture disembarked.

"The pilot's body and her escape pod are on board." Wildstar informed the ship's XO via radio.

"Thank you, Cadet Wildstar." The officer replied. "You and Cadet Venture meet me outside the hanger. I will show you to your quarters."

"Yes, Sir." Derek replied then said to Mark, "Come on, maybe we'll see my brother's ship on the way out. This hangar should be nearly full."

Mark hurriedly followed Wildstar through the gigantic hangar.

Derek ran to the first bay and eagerly peaked in. Seeing nothing, he ran to the next one, and then the next. With every empty bay, Wildstar's heart began to sink.

Derek returned to Venture – who was only half way down the hangar – his head hung low, face dark, "They're… they're all empty." He said, "Every… single… one… Alex's ship _has_ to be here somewhere."

Venture's heart plummeted into his stomach; something was terribly wrong, "Maybe his ship returned to Earth on another of the flagships."

Derek nodded ever so slowly, "Yeah… Yeah, that's gotta be it."

The two walked the rest of the way to the exit in silence.

Just before they reached the door however, someone walked in – two someones in fact.

"Captain! Captain, we don't know what the pilot might be carrying; we can't just –" the man dressed like a medic protested to an older man wearing a captain's coat and hat. His white hair and beard stood out in stark contrast to the black of his coat.

"I know the risks; but if I expect my science team to look through an alien craft, the least I can do is make sure it's safe for them to do so."

"But Captain, your –"

"I'm fine, doctor. Please," the older man looked up to see Mark and Derek standing there staring at them. "Let Hamilton know his two cadets are here to meet him."

"Yes… Captain." The medical officer nodded and disappeared back out the hangar door.

"Captain?" Wildstar approached the older man boldly, "Captain… Avatar?"

"Yes?" the veteran addressed the young man, wondering why he had approached him.

"I'm Derek Wildstar. I'm –"

"Alex Wildstar's brother." The Captain finished. "Yes... I know. You look just like him."

"Where is he? Did his ship go back with the rest of the fleet?" Derek asked.

Captain Avatar didn't respond right away. Instead he stood silently for a very long moment.

"Captain?" Derek pleaded with the man to answer him.

"We _are_ the Pluto fleet, Wildstar." Captain Avatar replied. "Your brother made a great sacrifice so that we could return with information vital to Earth's survival."

Derek stared open-mouthed at the captain, a look of grief stricken horror settling over his face. Suddenly, Wildstar exploded, "You left him behind!"

"No, Wildstar. He did it of his own accord. I tried to convince him to come with us, but he wouldn't have it. He fought a delaying action so that this ship, heavily damaged as she was, could make it out of Pluto-space."

Wildstar was about to reply when suddenly the XO stepped in.

"Cadets, please come with me." Hamilton said and motioned for the young men to follow him out of the hangar.

Mark clapped Derek on the shoulder, "Come on, Wildstar." Derek didn't follow. "Come on." Mark repeated.

This time, Derek, in shock, followed silently.

* * *

"_Lord… show me what to do…"_ Avatar surveyed the wreckage that Wildstar and Venture had hauled aboard. _"I don't know how to help him, but I _do_ know the pain he suffers…"_ immediately, thoughts of his son Adam, Alex's navigator, flooded into his mind, _"Perhaps once we return to Earth… Maybe then he will understand why we couldn't go back."_

The Captain winced as a twinge of pain chided him for moving too quickly around the ship's cargo hold.

Avatar ran his gloved hand over the exterior of the escape pod, admiring its fine craftsmanship. _"Like nothing we could have made."_ He thought.

Then he stepped over to the preservation capsule that the pilot's body had been transported in.

The lid was a bit frosted over and Avatar had to clear the condensation off the glass cover in order to get a glimpse of the pilot.

When he saw her face, he stopped and stared. Even in death she was the very image of beauty. The cadets' report hadn't been an exaggeration after all. She looked as though she could have been the queen of some distant land from a storybook world.

"_If only she were still alive…"_ the Captain sighed heavily, _"If only…"_

Out of the corner of his eye, Avatar caught thought he saw something glowing. He looked to see the source of the strange light and was surprised to see the mystery object of which the cadets had spoken in their report.

"Odd." The Captain muttered to himself, then thought, _"Perhaps a power source of some kind?"_

He took one cautious step at a time, inching his way towards the object. _"The pilot had it with her; perhaps it was meant to generate some sort of shield to break her fall."_

He came to within a few feet of the object and stopped, a strange feeling suddenly coming over him. Anxiety? He was too old to be anxious.

According to the report at least one of the cadets had touched the object and suffered no ill effects.

He took a few more steps towards the alien artifact and ever so slowly reached out towards it.

His hand descended towards the object but stopped just before he touched it.

He expected to feel some sort of warmth emanating from it.

Perhaps his gloves were too thick.

He withdrew his hand and took off his captain's glove, then reached out again towards the glowing thing.

Nothing happened. Until he touched the object.

The image of a woman suddenly appeared before his eyes, a woman who looked much like the pilot resting in the capsule several feet away. Then, she began to speak.

"_I am Starsha of planet Iscandar."_

* * *

"A message you say?" Commander Singleton asked, eyebrows raised in curiosity, "What was it?"

"An offer of help." Avatar replied. The light from his small communication screen casting stark shadows through his dark quarters.

"Help? From who?"

"Iscandar." said the Captain.

"Iscandar? What is it? A town; a country; an organization –"

"Another planet, Commander."

There was a long pause and Avatar thought the Commander might not reply, but just when the Captain was about to continue speaking the other man finally spoke.

"So it's not just us and Gamilon anymore then..."

"No, Thaddeus. It's not."

"It was hard enough when we discovered that we weren't alone in the universe. One alien culture was enough, but now a second one..." The Commander's face fell. "The people pf Earth have had enough to think about for the past decade without adding something else now."

"I know, Commander." the Captain replied, "But this time they offer us hope, and not death."

"Yes... this is true..." Singleton replied, then a thought occurred to him, "As long as this isn't a trap."

Avatar's eyes dropped to the floor, "It would have to be quite a plot, Commander... The pilot who delivered the message – the pilot whose body we now carry with us – was the sister of the woman who sent us this message. She died to give us this hope."

Commander Singleton stood dumbfounded. "Her sister...? Who is this woman who sent us this message?"

"Her name is 'Starsha,' '_Queen_ Starsha of Iscandar.'"

"That would make this sister a princess. Why send a princess to do what anyone could have? Something doesn't seem right."

"Perhaps." the Captain replied, "But would it not be better to trust in a slim hope than to give up and sentence the world to death and ruin? Would it not be better to trust in the promise of God Himself, the promise that –"

"I don't need to hear about your religion, Abraham." Singleton interrupted, "But I do agree that it would be better to bet on something than nothing. As soon as you get here, bring that message to us here and EDF headquarters. We'll have our science team analyze it for any further clues as to what's going on here."

"In the mean time, I think it would be wise to step up the pace on the... _Yamato Plan_." Avatar replied slowly.

"But if we pursue this... 'promise' from who knows where, we won't need it."

"Not for its original purpose, no." the Captain admitted, "But there was something else in this message that will change our perspective of space travel completely."

"Very well. My people will look into it." Singleton nodded, "But until then, do not reveal the contents of that message to anyone else."

"Understood, Commander."

With that, the transmission ended.

* * *

Venture and Wildstar lay in their respective bunks in their dark quarters. It was night-time in the ship's day-cycle, so they were trying to get some sleep before arriving back planet-side.

"What a day, huh?" Mark tried to coax an answer – or words of any kind out of Derek. He waited for the response from the bunk above him. Derek didn't say anything, so Mark tried again, "I wonder what that thing was that the pilot was holding on to."

Again there was no response.

"Glad to be off Mars though. That had to be the most boring assignment I've ever been given." Mark stared up at the underside of his friend's bunk.

Silence was his reward.

"Well, I'm going to sleep now." Mark said into the silence. "Wake me up when we get there."

Finally a low grunt came from the top bunk.

"_Well... at least he's still alive up there."_ Mark thought, _"Maybe some time to think will do him some good,"_ then he rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
Hello readers, due to some life schedule changes, story updates will be coming on Mondays/Tuesdays now instead of Sundays/Mondays. Thanks for reading and don't forget to check my profile if you're ever wondering when the next update is coming or if there have been any additions to future story plans.**


	5. Episode 3: A Message of Hope

**Episode 3: A Message of Hope**

"_The EDF, huh?" an eighteen year-old Alex Wildstar asked his younger brother, "What made you decide that?"_

"'_Cus that's what you're doing." Ten year-old Derek replied, "I wanna be a space pilot, just like you." The boy grinned up at his older brother._

"_Well, the fighters we're using right now are pretty rough – only in the late experimental stages, Derek." The young man said, "We're not even sure that they'll hold up in full vacuum."_

"_Ah, they will." Derek dismissed, "Those crazy aliens won't know what hit 'em when you take 'em out."_

_Alex let a sad smile cross his face, "I wish we didn't have to think about that at all, little brother… I'd rather have never entered the cockpit of one of those fighters than to have to fight these… 'Gamilons' like we are now."_

_Derek look at his brother, a bit of astonishment on his face, "You'd give up flying?"_

"_Yeah, I would." Alex replied, "If it meant no more bombings; I'd give up more than _that_ if it came to it."_

The memory of his brother's words echoed in Derek's mind as he stepped through the doors of Central Hospital in Tokyo.

The medical center was stationed underground, just like everything else these days, right next to EDF headquarters. The large white building stood tall, towering over the military installation.

Derek's boots clicked on the hard floor, accompanied by Mark's footsteps. Wildstar stared down at the freshly-shined white and red boots as he took first one step and then another on his and Mark's trip up to see the resident physician after their time off-world.

Rumor was that Central had just gotten a new physician, some old guy who'd been a ship's doctor for long than either Derek or Mark had been alive. From everything he'd heard the guy sounded like a whack-job: talked to himself incessantly, drank pretty heavily while he was off-duty – although he had been known to have a few before a major surgery too – dabbled in robotics, and was good pals with his cat. Other than that, the cadets didn't really know much about him.

"Out of the way! Both of you!" the exclamation startled both young men and they whirled around to see who was barreling down the hallway towards them.

A short, bald man with glasses and a whiny voice was racing towards them at top speed, his short legs a blur as he ran.

"Move!" He shouted again.

Derek and Mark instantly parted and the man whooshed through the gap and disappeared through a door a dozen feet ahead of them.

"Doctor! Wait!" another voice – this one sounding computerized – yelled after the short man. Wildstar and Venture looked back the way the man had come and, to their astonishment, a robot strongly resembling a bright red barrel with feet and arms. His domed head swiveled this way and that, trying to figure out which door the stranger had skirted through.

Derek and Mark looked on confused as the doctor's head peeked out the door he had just entered and he shouted back at the robot. "IQ-9, I told you to get me some soap!"

"I did!" the robot warbled back loudly as he careened towards the doctor.

"Then get in here! Who knows what's hiding in that capsule?"

The robot squeezed through the space between the young men without acknowledging them.

"I didn't see anything hiding in it, doctor." The robot replied.

"Stop being so literal, you walking tin can." Said the doctor, giving the robot a small scowl. "I thought I programmed you better than that."

"Abstract thought is not quantitative, doctor." Replied the machine.

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that." The little man looked like he had truly never thought of what his – apparent – creation had just said.

Derek and Mark started to walk on past the strange duo, but were stopped when they suddenly heard a third voice coming from behind them.

"Doctor Sane, the body is clean." A woman called to the short man.

At the sound of her voice both cadets' heads turned to see the source of the gentle sound that had just graced their ears.

Both men's eyes widened when they saw her.

"Wildstar…" Venture whispered to Derek.

"Yeah… I know…" Derek replied in kind, "She looks just like…"

"That pilot from the ship." Mark finished the sentence quietly.

The two looked at each other before looking back at the woman. Judging by her apparel, she was a nurse here at Central. Her knee-length white dress and high white boots both bore the hospital's red insignia and the tablet she carried was marked too.

The woman didn't seem the notice the staring men as she streaked past them and joined the robot.

Derek and Mark didn't make another move to leave the scene.

"What're you two staring at?" the doctor's shrill question finally pried the cadets' eyes away from the nurse's all-too-familiar face.

"Uh… Sorry." Derek muttered, making a move to scratch his head and discretely pretending not to have noticed the woman.

Mark moved to cover their pause, "Are you talking about the body of the woman on the ship that crashed on Mars?"

"This is correct." The response came from the robot – "IQ-9" the doctor had called it.

"We're the ones who found her." Venture put in.

"Very good. Now go on to wherever you were headed in the first place." The doctor tried to shoo the men.

"But –" Derek tried to protest and Mark couldn't help but be just the tiniest bit happy that his friend was actually speaking again for now.

"Go!" the doctor ordered, stubby finger pointing down the hallway.

"I think my friend wanted to ask about your… companion." Mark offered, buying them a little more time.

"This is IQ-9. He's part of the newest line of artificially intelligent machines from Sandor Aerospace.*" replied the doctor.

"Most robots in hospitals are only a five series, but I am a nine." The machine put in, seeming to have grasped the concept of self-promotion quite easily.

"Uh…" Mark felt awkward, not quite knowing how to respond to the doctor's answer.

"Doctor Sane, I'm taking the samples up to the lab." The nurse said in the interim silence.

"Thank you." The doctor replied, just before the young woman who Derek and Mark had been so fascinated by left.

Mark could almost hear Derek's disappointed sigh.

"I think he meant her." Mark inclined his head towards the departing nurse.

"Oh!" Doctor Sane said, then laughed, "That's Nova Forrester – best nurse I've got." He chuckled again. "Since you're the two who came back from Mars, she'll be assisting me with your physicals once we get the alien pilot's lab work done."

The cadets groaned.

* * *

"What a day, huh?" Venture asked as he and Wildstar sat in one of Central's lobbies, staring at the artificial plants that littered the room. "Why do you think they're taking so long to let us leave?"

Derek shrugged, seeming to have sunk back in his wordless slump.

"I mean, it's not like we could have caught anything from that pilot." Venture said, more to reassure himself than Wildstar, "Right?"

Derek shrugged again.

Mark changed the subject, hoping it would help, "She's beautiful."

After a moment of continued silence, Wildstar finally replied in a strange tone, "Yeah… she is…"

Then Mark realized that his friend wasn't just grieving over his lost brother, he was brooding over that nurse.

"We don't know where we're going to be tomorrow, you know." Said Mark.

"Yeah…" Derek said again. "I know…"

"You should talk to her."

"Yeah…"

Mark was about to make a comment about Derek's vocabulary, but was interrupted by none other than the red tin can himself.

"The body and capsule from Mars have been analyzed." The robot announced upon his entrance.

"What about our physicals?" Mark interjected.

"You're both fine." Doctor Sane said, suddenly appearing behind the robot. "Just thought you would like to know since you helped ferry them here."

"Isn't that classified information?" Mark asked.

"Did I tell you anything specific? No! " Doctor Sane's voice screeched a bit, "Trust me, I know what's classified and what's not."

"Thanks for the information." Mark replied, "Do we have any new orders?"

"Return to EDF headquarters. Commander Singleton wants to see you both." Sane replied.

"Thanks, Doc." Derek finally said, then stood with Mark to leave, but just before he got out the lobby door he turned around and asked, "That nurse of yours wouldn't happen to be coming too, would she?"

* * *

Commander Singleton's hand tapped the scarlet capsule that the Mars team had brought back. Just as when Captain Avatar had touched it, the image of the stranger appeared and began to speak, albeit in a different language, but the capsule seemed to be equipped with some sort of translation matrix, and, amazingly, it worked decently well.

"_I am Starsha of planet Iscandar." _the woman paused to take a breath before continuing in her light, melodic voice, _"When… and if my sister, Astra, arrives safely with this message to –" _here the recording stopped for an instant while the matrix seemed to have to work to find the right words, but it finally continued, though a bit awkwardly, _"planet Earth, come to Iscandar. You have only one year left before the total extinction of all life on," _the matrix searched for the right proper noun again. Obviously the people on Iscandar had another name for humanity's home, _"Earth. I have sent you the plans for a –" _the recording ground to a complete halt for several seconds and then continued in the woman's own language for several words before the computer finally gave a very rough name that didn't make complete sense, but that would have to work for the mean time,_ "Wave Motion Engine so that you can make the long journey to Iscandar. When you get here, we will give you the," _another long pause, but this time, the computer finally spit out something that made less sense than its name for the engine plans,_ "Healing from the Stars. This will remove the radioactivity from Earth and is the only thing that can save you. I wish we could get the Cosmo DNA to you ourselves, but we cannot. Then follow the plans for the Wave Motion Engine. It will get you to Iscandar. We are located a hundred and forty-eight thousand light-years beyond the galactic system. You must reach Iscandar in time to save Earth. May God go with you. I am Starsha, of planet Iscandar."_

At the woman's last words, Captain Avatar allowed himself a brief smile and the Commander gave a discrete frown, muttering something under his breath.

"'Healing from the Stars'?" Singleton asked, "Sounds like some sort of cosmological cure-all."

"It seems a very rough translation." Avatar agreed, and then said "You have a better suggestion?"

"Well, in light of the length of the computer's translation, I think something like 'Cosmo DNA' has a more Earth-like quality to it. Not to mention it's easier to remember." Singleton replied.

"'Cosmo DNA' it shall be then." Avatar nodded, then after a moment of silence he said, "It's time to gather them… with some adjustments to the crew…"

The Commander nodded soberly, "Indeed…" he looked over at the Captain, "I'm sorry, my friend… I know Alex Wildstar and your son were on that roster… as well as a few others from the fleet… and other battles."

Avatar nodded, "But even with the… losses… I believe I have finally found the last of my crew, though it may prove to be a rough transition for them."

Singleton nodded, "I understand completely."

* * *

"Why do we keep getting sent here and there now that we're back? It's like we're a couple of ping-pong balls stuck in a box." Mark commented as he and Derek walked from Central Hospital to the EDF's main building.

"Nobody else to do it to?" Derek commented.

"Yeah, maybe." Mark replied, feeling a little uneasy for a reason he just couldn't pin down. It felt like something was going on, and that made him nervous.

They walked in the door and were immediately ushered up to Commander Singleton's office, which of course only served to heighten Mark's anxiety.

"Welcome cadets Wildstar and Venture." The EDF chief greeted the young men.

Derek and Mark saluted the older man.

"Thank you for your service at the Mars observation post." The Commander said, "Your attention to your environment made it possible for us to recover information that may prove vital to saving Earth herself from death. On behalf of the people all over the Earth, I thank you again."

Derek and Mark nodded, "Thank you, Commander." They both replied.

"Now, your next task is to meet the air car that's waiting for you just outside the building." Commander Singleton looked from one young man to the other, "Enjoy the ride, gentlemen."

With that, the two were dismissed.

Once they left the Commander's office, Mark shook his head. Once again, they were off to yet another location for an undisclosed reason.

"_Ah well," _he thought, _"at least we don't have to fly there."_

The two quickly made their way back down to the ground floor and out to the waiting air car. They stepped into the vehicle and both immediately noticed that the driver's seat was already occupied by a taxi-bot.

"_Not driving either."_ Mark added to his earlier thought.

The first question out of Derek's mouth as soon as they were seated and the doors had shut was, "Where are we going?"

The robot didn't respond.

"Must not be the talkative type." Mark quipped to his friend.

"Yeah, really." Derek rolled his eyes. "I think the higher-ups are using us as some perverse form of entertainment. 'Let's see how many places we can send them in two days.'" Derek said in his best General Stone voice once again.

Once Mark stopped laughing he asked, "Will you never stop doing that?"

"No." Derek replied simply. "He's too much of a drama queen not to imitate."

"I'm sure he would love your description of him."

"Psht!" Derek laughed, seeming to have finally been kicked out of his wordless stupor now that he had seen a pretty girl and been thanked by the head of Earth's defenses. "If he ever found out he'd have me drawn and quartered." He shook his head, "_No_ sense of humor at all, that man."

"You said it." Mark agreed.

Suddenly the cab fell quiet, the only sounds were the faint whir of the car's engine, the whisper of the bot's motors, and the two men's breathing.

Mark looked out the car window and suddenly realized something, "I don't recognize this part of the city."

"Me either." Derek agreed, looking all around them, trying to figure out where they were being taken.

The air car came to a stop at the base of a set of stairs.

Here, the doors opened and Mark and Derek were wordlessly encouraged by the robotic driver to get out. They hesitantly obeyed and found themselves standing at the base of a set of stairs they had never seen before. At the top of those stairs was what looked like an elevator. A tall shaft ran from the ground up through the ceiling, then disappearing into the earth above.

"_What's up there?"_ Mark wondered.

"Please enter the elevator." A computer voice invited the cadets.

Derek shrugged, "Guess we'd better go."

The two quickly entered the elevator and waited for it to engage.

Ten seconds later it started up. The wait made Mark all the more anxious. Derek gave no signs of even caring, or maybe he was just better at hiding it than Mark.

The ride seemed to go on and on until finally the elevator stopped.

The doors opened and both young men nearly fell over in shock at what they saw.

"What… _is_ this…?" Mark asked as he looked around the room set before him.

"Looks like a bridge." Derek answered.

"I can see that, but how is that possible? EDF isn't building any more ships. We don't have the resources or the time." He looked over at Derek, "Right?"

"That's what they said anyway." Derek replied, "Maybe this is _why_ they didn't have any more resources."

Mark nodded, "Yeah, probably." He craned his neck to see the other side of the bridge.

"You may step out of the elevator, gentlemen." A familiar voice bid them enter.

"Captain Avatar?" Derek asked, both surprised and dismayed to see the veteran captain. "Why are we here? _Where_ is here?" a tinge of anger crept into the young man's tone as he spoke to the captain.

"You are here because you have chosen to help save this world from destruction. You have been called here to change the world for the better, to answer the call of a woman who, before yesterday, none of us knew about from a planet we could have never dreamed of."

The confused look on Mark's and Derek's faces made the captain smile.

"That object you brought back – the scarlet and blue crystal capsule – it was a message." The captain explained.

"Message…?" Mark asked, not believing what he had just heard.

"Yes, and one unlike any other we have ever received. It was a promise of help from a woman named, 'Queen Starsha' from a planet called 'Iscandar.'" Avatar continued, "But… this world is a hundred and forty-eight thousand light years away."

Mark's face fell, _"We can't go that far… even if Earth wasn't being bombarded on a daily basis…"_

"I know what you're thinking." The captain interrupted Venture's despairing thoughts. "You think we can't possibly make that kind of journey. We have no way to do it, and even if we did, we have no crew to take us there." Avatar smiled, "Well, gentlemen, I am here to tell you that we _can_ make that journey, and we _will_."

"Surely not, Captain," Derek sneered, "After all… the rest of our ships were destroyed at Pluto."

Despite the cadet's attitude, Captain Avatar's face lightened even more as he replied, "Not all of them, Wildstar. Not all of them."

* * *

**Episode 3 Notes:**  
* Sandor Aerospace – credit for this name goes to the makers of the _Yamato_ audio drama, "Sea of Stars"


	6. Episode 4: One Last Battleship

**Episode 4: One Last Battleship**

"Then show me _one_! Just one!" Wildstar raised a single accusing finger, "Flagship 227 is intact, but might as well be destroyed. Where is this mighty ship that will somehow 'carry us to glory and deliverance'? " the cadet mocked as Mark looked on speechless.

Venture had to fight to keep his jaw from hanging open, "Wildstar –" he tried to stop his friend from saying anything more, but Derek wouldn't have it.

"No! I'm sick of this!" Derek snapped at Mark. "He's a captain – he should be responsible for what he does!" Wildstar bellowed, eyes burning with unspent rage, fists now curled into angry, brown-gloved balls.

"Captain, I'm sorry..." Venture offered to Avatar.

The old captain simply raised a patient hand, "There is no need for that, Venture." replied Avatar. "There is something –"

He was suddenly cut off by the blaring of emergency alarms.

"_Enemy planes sighted near the sunken Yamato. Request emergency response team to investigate." _the voice permeated the strange bridge, startling Venture and propelling Wildstar back into some semblance of stability.

"_All response teams are currently occupied."_ a second tense voice replied to the first.

"_I repeat this is an _emergency_ of the utmost importance!"_ the first voice responded.

"Sending emergency response team now." Captain Avatar's voice suddenly replied, his message carrying to whoever had first sent the request in the first place.

"What?" Wildstar asked, "but you don't have –"

"Yes, I do." Avatar countered, "I'm looking right at them." he stared at the two cadets intently. "There is a two-man fighter waiting for you in a hangar at the bottom of the elevator you took to get up here.

When neither young man moved to leave the captain added, "Go on. They'll be almost over the wreck soon."

"Y-yes, Sir." Venture was the first to salute and dash out. Wildstar half-heartedly responded in kind and disappeared after his friend.

* * *

"What's so important about an old battleship anyway?" Derek asked as he and Mark flew over the deep orange and red clay and sand that now made up the floor of what was once the Pacific Ocean.

"No idea." Mark replied, "but the enemy has some reason for being out here. Might as well shoot them down while they're on our turf."

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea to me," Wildstar replied, sounding the most enthusiastic he'd been about anything all day – except for meeting that nurse at Central.

"Target acquired," Mark announced a little shakily – as usual.

"Venture, don't chicken out." Wildstar ordered, seeing two Gamilon scout planes appear, first on his radar, then on his target scope, "Just because you weren't in the combat division –"

"Just shut up and shoot, Wildstar." said Mark.

Derek concentrated on the alien planes, starting to feel just like he usually did when he was in charge of bringing down the enemy – in control.

"_Just a little more..."_ he silently urged the closest of the two as he just missed getting a target lock on it. _"Half a second and I'll have you, you little –"_

Red lights everywhere whooped and screeched all around the cockpit as a hundred LEDs went crazy, like a swarm of angry fireflies. The fighter rocked with a small explosion.

"Venture!" Derek screeched over the alarms. "How could you let them hit us?"

"We're not hit, Wildstar," Venture bellowed back, "The engine overheated."

"Worthless piece a' trash!" Wildstar exclaimed and kicked the nearest wall, instantly regretting it as pain shot through his foot and he resorted to calling the old plane more disreputable names.

"They're getting away!" Wildstar whined as Venture was forced the land the ship the best he could under the circumstances.

"At least they're not sticking around to _kill _us." Venture pointed out, "Now let's get out of this thing before anything else blows. Your suit in airtight, right?"

"Yeah..." Derek replied grudgingly as he unbuckled his safety harness.

Venture fiddled with the radio – one of the few things in the plane that wasn't hopelessly outdated – and sent out a distress call, "Enemy planes have left the area, but our ship is damaged. Repeat, our ship is damaged. We can't make it back to base. Requesting pickup."

Within a few seconds he had an answer, "Roger that, sending a team to your coordinates now."

"Thank you." Venture ended the conversation.

Both cadets climbed out of the plane, whose landing had been partially cushioned by a sand dune.

"Lovely spot you picked, Venture." Wildstar quipped as he trudged up the dune, head down, Venture a good ways ahead of him, very near the top of the dune's crest.

Mark didn't respond.

"I'm surprised that plane even took off." Derek continued, "With the state it was in..." Wildstar finally caught up to Venture and looked up.

"What is the...? Is that what I think it is?" Wildstar breathed as he stared at the sight laid out before his wondering eyes.

"Yeah... I think so." Venture finally replied. "That's the old _Yamato_ herself."

"It's... more stately than I thought it would be after so many years buried here on the ocean floor." Derek admitted, "But... it's still a wreck... Why are the Gamilon's so interested... in... it –" Derek's face was instantly facing Venture, "Mark, we've gotta get back to that bridge."

"Uh, Derek, our ride's not here yet."

* * *

"Wildstar, slow down!" Mark called after Derek as he exited the rescue vehicle not a minute after Wildstar.

"I'm not stopping until I know what that old buzzard is up to." Derek yelled back, "Now hurry up before I leave you to find your own ride!"

Mark broke into a run and just managed to squeeze into the air car that was, again, mysteriously waiting for them.

"Hey, Tinny" Wildstar greeted the robot who had ferried them everywhere today.

The robot, as usual, did not respond.

Derek kicked back in his seat and waited as the car took them back to that same fateful elevator they had traversed twice thus far today and were about to navigate a third time.

* * *

The elevator door whisked open to reveal the anonymous bridge again.

Derek immediately marched out of the elevator and into the vast room shouting, "Stop hiding whatever it is you're hiding!"

Mark ran after his friend and managed to catch him before he actually got to the old captain who had his back to Derek and was staring at no-one-knew-what somewhere towards the front of the room.

"You've already seen it, Wildstar." Avatar replied matter-of-factly.

"All I know is that there's something strange going on with that twisted hulk out in the middle of nowhere and I wanna know _what_!" Derek exclaimed.

The old captain sighed and turned to face the angry young man, "Perhaps I haven't been clear enough. So let me begin again, Wildstar."

Mark let out a sigh of relief, seeing that the captain wasn't letting the emotion of the past cloud him at this crucial point, like Wildstar was.

"Earth was dying; we had no more resources to pull from, so we had to take from what we already had. That included all existing EDF planes, vehicles, and ships... both space-worthy... and seaworthy..."

"The EDF doesn't have any sailing ships," Derek cut in, a sarcastic look in his eyes. "There isn't any water to sail them in."

"They didn't have any." the Captain agreed, ignoring the snarky comment, "Until about five years ago when it was decided by the EDF high council that something had to be done – humanity had to survive at all costs. So they slowly siphoned off a little bit here and there, taking any extra they could find anywhere, knowing that if their efforts failed, we would all be doomed – or so they imagined."

The captain slowly approached what looked like a console jutting up out of the floor. He turned to face the two young men, leaning on the console a bit as he did so. "Many countries of the world were enlisted in this effort, one last push to save us all from the enemies that had so suddenly appeared from space. And so, they built it – Earth's largest space battleship, using the most accessible shell they could to build their ship. The –"

"The _Yamato_ wreck..." Mark suddenly blurted, so surprised he couldn't contain himself.

"Correct, Venture." Avatar nodded, hiding a smile. "And you are standing on _her_ bridge." the Captain looked at Wildstar, "_This_ is the one battleship Earth has to give, Wildstar."

Derek's face morphed into an expression of shock and disbelief, which was compounded when all the lights on the bridge were at once lit and the enormous video screen covering a generous portion of the front bridge wall was turned on and an image of Earth's space battleship, _Yamato _appeared there.

"How...?" Mark began, blinked twice, and started again, "How is this possible, Captain Avatar?"

"It isn't, Venture." the captain replied, "My faith tells me that God only gives us what we can handle, and He helps us carry what we can't carry on our own. Right when the EDF had come to the end of their hope and had no more knowledge of how to finally finish this ship, your report came from Mars. The capsule you brought back didn't just include that message. It gave us detailed plans for an engine design, one that we can adapt to use as a prime weapon... which I pray we never have to use."

"It's not _finished_?" Wildstar blurted, snapping out of his stupor.

"Not completely." Avatar replied, "But it will be in two weeks."

"Do we _have_ two weeks?" Wildstar countered.

"Perhaps not." the Captain replied, "If we must, we will take off before then, but _only_ as a last resort."

"Oh good. Just so we're clear." Wildstar replied, folding his arms.

"Don't think he can pull it off?" a whiny voice emanated from over behind the captain's chair, positioned near the elevator the two young men had disembarked from mere minutes before.

No one answered the strangely familiar voice for a long moment.

Suddenly, out popped the short man they had run into at Central, Dr. Sado Sane.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Derek blurted upon seeing the man.

"Same thing I'm doing here." A woman's soft voice met their ears and the nurse who Sane had called "Nova Forrester" stepped out from the same place the doctor had been hiding.

This time though, instead of her plain nurse's uniform, the young woman wore something more befitting of the EDF, a black and gold jacket over a gold, collared shirt and calf-length skirt of like coloring. Her hands were in her jacket pockets and she smiled as she looked at the two young men.

"Uh…" Derek failed to start the sentence he had just prepared to say before Nova appeared.

"I'm here too!" a mechanized voice announced, sending Derek into more of a puzzled state than before as none other than IQ-9 rolled out to join the group.

"Anyone else who's here, but not on the bridge?" Wildstar asked, bewildered.

"Just me, laddie." A voice boomed from the ship radio.

"Orion, my engineer on every ship I've ever commanded." Avatar supplied. "He's doing some work down in the engine room."

"Figured that out already." Wildstar replied under his breath, then added so that all could hear him, "So what is this? Some group that's gonna save the world?"

"You're almost right." Avatar replied. "These three," he gestured to Sane, Forrester, and IQ, "are only a small sampling of the full crew of this ship."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Derek stopped the captain, "'Crew'? You can't be serious about this? What are you even _doing_ with this ship anyway?"

"We, Derek Wildstar, are taking her to Iscandar and coming back home again with the one thing in God's great Universe that can heal this world of the harm that has been done to her these past nine years." The Captain stated, never batting an eye at the unbelievable words that were coming out of his mouth.

"'We' aren't going anywhere." Wildstar stated, then turned to leave, "_'You'_ can go do this by yourselves – without me. I'm no fool."

"Wildstar." The Captain's voice stopped Derek in his tracks. "You are to be Gunnery Chief. It was… the position your brother Alex would have held had he been here…"

Derek didn't turn around to face the group he knew was staring at him, but neither did he continue walking. Instead, he stayed rooted to ground, unable to do anything.

The Captain, seeing the young man's struggle turned the group's attention to someone else by continuing, "And you, Mark Venture, are to be my navigator, the position my son Adam would have held had he not gone down with his captain, Alex, and his ship, _Yukikaze_."

Mark was speechless, "Captain, I…It's an honor, Sir…"

"Well, that accounts for one of you." Avatar nodded in gratitude to Venture who saluted the veteran. "Wildstar?" he again looked at the torn young man whose back was still turned to him, "Do you have an answer for me?"

Ever so slowly Derek turned to face the Captain, but this time his head was bowed in a surprising show of respect to the man he clearly despised, and his fist raised to his heart in salute, "I am with you, Captain Avatar." He finally looked up at the old man, "For Alex."

Avatar nodded, "Understood."

* * *

The next several days were spent in a flurry of activity as Derek and Mark saw portions of the EDF building they had never known existed before.

Venture received an extensive course on the new engine – much of which he didn't understand, but was fascinated by nonetheless.

Wildstar was shown how to use the rebuilt ship's guns – properly – as they were experimental and could be overloaded if not used with care.

The launch date was set for some time in November, a mere few weeks away, but Derek was sure they wouldn't reach that date.

As the days went by one by one Wildstar became more and more nervous about the upcoming launch, so much so that he forcibly dragged Venture back to the ship one night and boarded her.

* * *

"Wildstar!" Venture called in a harsh whisper, "We can't be here, they'll find us – shoot us – or something else just as bad. Let's get out of here."

"No." Derek replied stubbornly, facing the front row of viewports, obstructed as they were by a thick, outside layer of ocean sediment and radioactive waste, "Something's out there, Mark; I can feel it."

"The only thing you're feeling is recycled air." Venture replied, "Now get back here and we'll –"

"Evening, gentlemen."

Mark froze, wide-eyed when he heard the voice of Captain Avatar coming from somewhere on the dark bridge.

"I felt it too, Wildstar." The old captain continued, ignoring the thick cloud of fear that seemed to suddenly envelope the two cadets.

"It's the enemy." Derek continued, not even turning to salute, so attuned was he to what he thought he perceived.

"They aren't on our radar yet." The Captain replied, "What makes you think it's them?"

"I just know, Captain." Wildstar replied, that same feeling of dread now rising up into an alarm.

* * *

"Colonel," the crewman addressed his superior officer who sat looking at that same old hologram again, the one of his daughter who had been mysteriously kidnapped not long before he'd been assigned to this cursedly far-away post. "Colonel Gantz, the reconnaissance team has returned with the information we were looking for."

The Colonel switched off the device and pocketed it, then stood. "The first descent progress we've made since coming to this backwater place," he spat, bitter thoughts of the past he'd been forced to relinquish swirling through his mind. "If it hadn't been for that cursed Usurper, De –"

"Colonel!" the crewman interrupted him, eyes wide, "The penalty for speaking the traitor's name!"

"Yes, yes, but it isn't anything more than what he has already done to me. We are fortunately that that idiot does not govern us any longer as it is _him_ we have to thank for this predicament in the first place." Gantz said bitterly.

"Yes, Colonel, this is true."

"Show me the information." Gantz bid the man.

"Here, Sir." He brought up the files for the Colonel to pick through.

"Ah, geographical data on the site in question, very good. We can use this." Gantz began watching a video feed from one of the scout ships and noticed something, "What is that?" he pointed to the dot in the sky that seemed to move, then zoomed in on the thing. "Is that supposed to be some sort of aircraft?" he asked, clearly appalled by the rudimentary appearance, "It is so… puny."

"Yes, Colonel, we know. The scouts did not even bother to engage it. If you watch further, you will see that its own systems fail not long after they started back."

"Their air-worthy craft are worse than their space-worthy ones." Gantz noted. "At least the fleet they sent to our base didn't explode of its own free will. How are they even fighting back at all?"

"We don't know, Sir. But if you look at this set of files you will see the real problem." The crewman opened another virtual information pocket that contained a form of sonar readings for the entire sunken area on the western portion of the planet in question.

"Do we have a visualized version of this?" Gantz asked, his eyes wide.

"Here, Sir," the crewman opened the illustration for the Colonel.

"What is it?" Gantz asked upon seeing the rendering, "It has some features similar to our warships, but that is where the comparison ends. What it really looks like is an enormous boat."

"It's more than that, Sir." The crewman brought up another file set, "We've also been recording and logging their audio transmissions. The translation matrix we received not long ago finally allowed us to decrypt them enough to where we know one thing for certain. Erats* has one last Oniyyah,* and she will not give up until it is turned into slag."

"Slag it then." Gantz ordered, "And be quick about it."

* * *

**Episode 4 Notes:**  
* Erats – Earth  
* Oniyyah – ship, warship


	7. Episode 5: Baptism of Fire

**Episode 5: Baptism of Fire**

Wildstar stood stock still on the dark, silent bridge of the old warship. The only sounds were the breathing of the captain, Venture, and Wildstar, along with the usual computer hum of the ship's systems, now on and functioning at their base level in preparation for the looming launch date.

Derek took a deep breath and held it, straining his ears to catch even the barest hint of something he knew full well he wouldn't be able to hear – the coming of the enemy.

Captain Avatar sat perched in his captain's chair, also listening, waiting.

Venture could barely see the outline of either man in the low glow of the ship's instruments.

To Mark, the silence was almost unbearable. That was the stark difference between him and Wildstar, Derek had little fear of the unknown. After all, he'd faced uncertainty his entire life. What was one more day of not knowing where he'd be tomorrow? Mark, on the other hand was uncomfortable not knowing exactly where he would be a week from now, much less tomorrow. This unexpected jaunt out to the strange ship was rather unnerving for the usually, level-headed young man.

To cope, he simply stood still, concentrating on what he would do if the enemy really was out there and suddenly appeared. If they weren't there, he would drag Derek back to the barracks and try to get some sleep.

The bridge remained deathly silent.

"It's already been too many days since I told you to destroy that ship." Colonel Gantz fumed at the man who had shown him the Eratites' buried construct. "Why isn't it scrap yet?"

"Sir, we had… setbacks… No one knows why. It's almost like someone knew we were planning on making a run on the site and saw to it that we couldn't until now."

"Hmm, a saboteur?" Gantz asked, eyebrow raised, and the man momentarily thought he might be off the hook, then Gantz exploded, "You expect me to believe that? You're all lazy and incompetent! That's the _real_ reason the Eratite ship isn't destroyed yet. Just go and get rid of it. You may even enlist _Din_* and her sister-ships, just get this done!"

"Yes, sir…" the man saluted the Colonel and scurried away to do his superior's bidding.

Once the man was gone, Gantz sat down heavily in his chair and sighed, _"Hilde…"_ he thought, the image of his daughter appearing in his mind, unbidden, _"If only I had known… I would have hidden you away from them; they never would have found you, and I wouldn't have to be out in his awful, lonely galaxy…"_

The day his daughter Hilde had been abducted by Deun the Usurper – the elder brother of Gamilon's current ruler, Leader Desslok – he had been sent out here to help oversee this endeavor. General Dommel Lysis, head of the Gamilon Royal Navy had seen to it that the troops were battle-ready and that Gantz had received the resources and training he needed to lead this group. But no matter what he did, Gantz always ended up thinking about getting his daughter back – having her safe again.

Right now no one knew where Hilde was. Even after Leader Desslok had deposed his wayward brother there had been no information released that might lead them to Hilde's location. It was all beginning to seem like a sick joke to Gantz. How could this have happened? How could it _still_ be happening?

Every day Gantz waited for news that they had found his daughter – alive and well, he hoped. But day after day, there was no word. And now there was this new mess with the Eratites and their new-found will to fight back. Why didn't they just give up? Surely it would be easier than dying slowly from the toxins that were being pumped into the planet. If they surrendered, Leader Desslok had even offered to simply make them a territory subject to Gamilon. They would still have to house the entire population of Gamilon – and the remaining two inhabitants of Iscandar – but they would at least be alive.

But they were stubborn men, these Eratites – had to learn everything the hard way it seemed.

"Colonel?" the voice of the man he had dismissed several minutes ago echoed into the room via the communications system.

"What?" Gantz growled.

"_Din_ and her fleet are ready to take off, Sir."

"Then go already! Stop making me wait for a victory that should have been won days ago."

"Yes, Colonel Gantz. We're taking off now, Sir."

With that, the base began to rumble just a bit as the ships launched and began their short journey through the solar system to Erats. They would be there in a couple of hours. Until then, there was nothing to do except wait.

* * *

Alarms suddenly erupted from everywhere at once. Wildstar flew into action, taking his position at the gunnery chief's chair.

Venture was unable to move for the barest second before instantly jumping to his friend's side and taking the navigator's chair – though what either of them was going to do with the ship still entrenched in crusted ocean muck, he wasn't sure.

Derek stared out the blocked bridge viewport, as though his eyes could melt away the grime that was stuck there.

"_Enemy fleet approaching your position, Captain Avatar."_ The same voice that had announced the coming of the scout planes days earlier heralded the coming of something much more deadly this time.

"Understood." Avatar replied. "Evacuate the area directly beneath us."

"_Yes, Captain."_

"Captain Avatar?!" Nova's welcome voice pierced through the shrill alarms as the nurse suddenly appeared as if from nowhere, "Is the radar operational yet?"

"Yes." Avatar replied.

Nova nodded and within a second she was behind the radar console, pushing buttons and watching screens and readouts. Finally the thing was ready to use. "Enemy ships thirty thousand mega-meters directly above us. Five battleships and… hundreds of fighters! They know we're here!"

Avatar nodded and for an instant, he said nothing, then to the surprise of all three young people he said, "Orion, take us up."

"What?!" Derek questioned, utterly taken aback. "They'll squash us like bugs if we do that!"

"Sit down, Wildstar." Avatar commanded.

Derek slowly obeyed, just now realizing that he had come all the way up out of his chair in his declaration.

"Cap'n! She's a bit rusty; this engine hasn't been tested yet!" The old Irishman's voice crackled back through the ship's comm system.

"Now is as good a time as any to test it. The more we know now, the easier it'll be for us later."

"If there _is_ a later." Wildstar mumbled under his breath.

"Gentleman," Avatar addressed Derek and Mark, "And Miss Forrester," he nodded to Nova, "This is your baptism of fire."

Nova nodded, her jaw set in a determined line, eyes fierce. Derek and Mark nodded grimly as well, ready for whatever was to come next.

Ten long seconds passed in which nothing happened, ten agonizing seconds of the enemy drawing ever closer to their defenseless position.

Then, ever so slowly, the ground began to quake beneath them. Gently at first, the violently, the ground, caked about the hulk of the long-dead ship was loosened, blown away from the site by the force of the rising ship.

Con tower, main guns, upper decks, lower decks, and finally, the lower bridge all emerged from the dirt and filth. The ship raised its proud head above the grave it had been sentenced to for too many decades and seemed to stare up at the enemy now descending upon it, as if to say, "This is _my_ home, and you'll not have it!"

"How is this even happening?" Wildstar asked as the dirt caked over the front view port began to crack and give way under the engine's shaking. Piece after piece of debris crumbled away to reveal the radiation-ridden world around them, eerily glowing in the stone cold night above the surface.

Derek had never seen Earth like this – at night, after the sun had gone for the day. No one was allowed out here at night; it was too dangerous. If a man's suit was breached, he would freeze in minutes. At least during the day the only thing an unlucky soul would get was some exposure to the radiation, which could – most of the time – be treated if they were found quickly enough, but at night… if trouble came, death followed it.

But this night was even deadlier still because now, Gamilon ships were descending on them and the Earth ship – in addition to having never been tested – was only equipped with a crew of three, maybe four, plus the old captain.

"_Not great odds."_ Thought Wildstar, _"Ah… so what?"_ he shook the thought of his impending doom out of his mind. After all, he had no family to go home to after this, so what did he have to lose?

He stole a glance over at Venture. Mark's face was white as a sheet and if the situation hadn't been so dire, Derek would have had a good laugh at Venture's expense. Not this time though – at least, not until they got out of this – preferably alive.

"Forrester, how long until the enemy is within firing range?" Avatar asked.

"Two minutes, Captain." Nova replied from her station.

"Wildstar, start charging weapons. They'll need some extra time to prepare since they've never been fired before."

"Yes, Captain." Derek acknowledged and began the preparation sequence he had been drilled over time and time again over the past many days.

"Ninety seconds." Nova announced.

"Weapons are charging." Derek announced and watched as the readout for the main guns changed, their energy levels rising closer and closer to the hundred percent mark.

"Sixty seconds." Nova said.

The energy level was barely above the thirty percent marker.

"Captain, we don't have enough time!" Wildstar suddenly blurted, "We're not going to have enough power!"

"Yes, we will." Avatar stated. "Be patient."

Derek gritted his teeth as he watched the indicator rise too slowly. Finally it reached the fifty percent mark.

"Fifteen seconds!" Nova's voice had a hint of anxiety in it now.

"Captain, we can't _do_ this!" Derek shook his head, seeing no human way possible to finish charging the ship's guns in time to meet the incoming ships – at least, not in time to save themselves from being vaporized.

"Yes. We can!" The captain repeated as he saw the hint of a wild look beginning to creep into Wildstar's eyes. "Be still! The less time you have, the more you need to use the time you have wisely. Now stop overthinking it and let's do this by the numbers."

Wildstar stared into the captain's face, speechless at the confidence the old man still exuded.

"Five! Four! Three!"

Suddenly the readout lit up brighter than anything Wildstar had ever seen before and the power level soared from half to full in an instant.

"Two!"

"_Power at one hundred percent."_ The computer announced.

Derek was too stunned to react for half a second and just nearly succeeded in picking his jaw up off of the floor in time to hear Nova finish her countdown.

"One! They're in firing range now, Captain."

"Fire at will, Wildstar." Avatar ordered the young man.

Derek took careful aim – making sure not to take too much time doing so as he had no idea what the enemy's weapons' range was.

"Firing the main guns now, Captain." Wildstar announced as he let loose a barrage of laser fire into the oncoming horde of planes.

* * *

Tall and beautiful, the young queen stood watching the events as they transpired on the world her people and her sister-world's populace had come to know as "Erats."

She had seen to it that the message capsule her sister had brought to Erats would be used as the core of whatever ship the Eratites would be using to make the long journey to Iscandar.

Because of this, every time the ship used the core in some fashion, she could see everything that was going on onboard ship for several minutes' time.

This was the first time it had happened and it thrilled her to be able to see the faces of some of the brave men and women who would be making the journey. They had no idea who she was, or why she wanted to help them, but they were accepting her message in good faith, and she intended to do everything in her power to help them reach Iscandar alive and well and to return home in one piece, bringing healing to Erats.

Gamilon had riddled Erats with deadly radiation, but they had also helped construct the fabled Rophi Shamayim* - a machine that had once restored Iscandar herself from the brink of annihilation. If it could do that for a planet so far gone as Iscandar had been, surely it could also restore Erats to its former glory.

"_By the will of Yahweh…"_ the young queen thought, _"I pray it will be so."_

The queen peered into the Eratite ship and watched as hundreds of Gamilon fighters started to swarm the single ship. She had expected to feel some apprehension at the sight, but found that she was not anxious at all.

Ever since the day that she first seen the malakhim shl Adonai* with her own eyes, she had begun to sense things that she had never been able to before. Things that would have troubled her in the past no longer did, and things she would have never noticed previously now stood out clearly to her.

"_You will make it, my Eratite friends. Do not despair at the host that has encamped against you. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand… but Yahweh will see to it that you remain unharmed."_ The woman smiled faintly as she watched the exchange, which ended much more quickly than the Eratites expected judging by their reactions.

* * *

"They're… they're gone!" Wildstar exclaimed. "Wiped out!"

"Yeah." Venture agreed simply, a bit stunned at the ferocity Wildstar had just exhibited as he mowed down the entire group of planes that had just tried to turn them back into scrap.

"Those are some guns, Captain." Wildstar turned to look back at Captain Avatar.

"They are." The old man replied, "But it looks like that was just the beginning."

Nova agreed and announced, "Three warships now approaching our position. They aren't sending out any more fighters."

"Yeah, because they don't have any more." Derek smirked.

"Be that as it may, be wary of them." Avatar instructed, "Ships less powerful than these were at Pluto… and I don't need to remind you how that ended."

Derek's brow furrowed at the mention of the slaughter at Pluto. His jaw tightened and he waited the intolerably long amount of time it took for the warships to get into weapons' range.

Finally, the first of the three ships got just close enough for Derek to hit it.

"Die, filth." He said bitterly as he shot a gigantic hole right through the center of the strangely shaped ship. Wildstar barely had time to notice the odd configuration before he blew it apart.

The second warship, not anticipating its first companion being struck down in this manner sailed right into Wildstar's firing range just as he began his second salvo.

The third warship stopped just out of the ship's firing range.

"Come on! Just a little closer, you coward." He challenged the ship, even though he knew full well the occupants couldn't hear anything he was saying.

Derek taunted the ship over and over hoping that it would dance into his range so that he could blow it out of the sky just as he had the two other ships and their fighters, but it just… sat there.

Derek finally slammed his fist into the console and stood half-way up out of his seat. "Come on already!" he shouted at the enemy. Let me finish this!"

Despite this final challenge, the third ship didn't drift any closer. Instead, two seconds later, it turned tail and ran.

There was silence on the bridge for a moment, before Venture said, "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it… We really _can_ beat them with this thing!" he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Nova looked up from her post, a triumphant smile on her face, "That's not all we can do," she said, holding up a tablet computer which now displayed an image of the ships they had just faced. "We also just got a detailed scan of that warship. Consider it one of the first of many entries we'll be able to make about the Gamilons' ships."

"Well done, Forrester." Avatar praised the young woman. "You got information on the fighters as well, I assume."

"Of course." She replied, tapping the screen a few times and bringing up the information she had collected on the smaller planes Wildstar had just decimated.

"Very good work, all of you." Avatar addressed his three-person crew. "Venture, set her down. A crew will be in here all night moving her to the underground hangar we have prepared for her."

"Yes, Sir." Venture acknowledged and gently set the mammoth vessel back down on the scarred earth.

"Now go get some sleep." The captain ordered, "We all have a long day ahead tomorrow. The ship is to be christened, and I'm the one they convinced to do it. I'll see you all in the morning."

With that, they all dispersed, Wildstar and Venture still in a fog from what had just happened.

"Remind me never to follow you out of the barracks at night ever again." Venture said, finally starting to feel the consequences of the adrenaline rush he had just experienced. He was about to crash, and if he didn't find his bed, and quickly, Wildstar was going to have to carry him back.

* * *

**Episode 5 Notes:**  
* _Din_ – a ship, name means "Vengeance"  
* Rophi Shamayim – what the Earth-dwellers dubbed the "Cosmo DNA"  
* Malakhim shl Adonai – angels of God


	8. Episode 6: Christening Day

**Episode 6: Christening Day**

_Darkness shrouded the great hall. It was midnight, and though the palace had many a light available to be lit, not a one of them was shining this night. The underground city was in total darkness, by the order of the Leader himself._

_All was silent except for the echo of one man's footsteps as he approached the door to the hall. Suddenly – a pause in the footsteps; would he enter and show approval, or let his displeasure be known by remaining outside? Even if he entered, would he consent to the proposed renaming?_

_All eyes strained to see the door in the darkness. Hundreds of citizens were packed into the throne room – as many as could safely stand shoulder to shoulder. This day – the day of the capitol's christening – was one that many had looked forward to ever since the announcement that the once-great Rapha'owr, most magnificent city on the face of Gamilon would be moved beneath the surface and resurrected to her former glory._

_Her new name had been decided by the people of the great city, and now they awaited the decision of their Leader to accept or reject that new name, "Belarus."_

_Not even a whisper was heard in the great hall as all waited for the sound of footsteps to resume. For a chilling minute, they did not and the people began to fear that their choice had not been to the Leader's satisfaction._

_Then suddenly, the doors to the throne room creaked and groaned as they were slowly opened. The room, however, remained in darkness, but all around, every ear heard the distinct steps of the Leader as he began his ascent to the throne._

_They all listened, hearts beating heavily, hoping for the one thing that would make this night one that would never be forgotten. Many of those assembled held their breath, waiting._

_The darkness continued to pervade the room and many began to wonder how the Leader could see to walk, but he had been known to do many extraordinary things – especially during the rebellion that had brought him here to rule over them – as was his birthright._

_In one instant, a brilliant light appeared, shining down on the one man who walked the narrow path to the front of the hall._

_Its brilliance blinded many of the onlookers, and they had to look away for a moment to recover their vision, but just as many continued to try to stare at the scene, blinded or not._

_The Leader's footsteps had stopped the instant the light blazed on and some wondered if he too had been blinded by the light, but just as soon as they had all recovered enough to see him, they realized their mistake. He was not blind, merely waiting for them to be able to see him as he continued his journey. He did not even appear uncomfortable in the sudden brilliance._

_He stood tall – over six feet. His head of orange-blonde hair stood out starkly in contrast with his blue skin-tone. The uniform he wore was similar to the one his father – the deceased Deun I – had worn a decade earlier when he had ruled the world. Blue-gray in color, the uniform was highly formal – stating that though he had once fought alongside rebels in a camp cobbled together with whatever they could scrounge, he now stood before them every bit a ruler. The black cloak that shrouded him was blood-red on the inside, making him appear, to the imaginative eye, as much like an avenging angel as an aspiring king._

_Every eye was in awe as many of them gazed upon their Leader for the first or second time in their lives. They had all glimpsed him on his coronation day years before, but now – now they all saw him clearly, noting the determined green eyes and the jaw set in a hard, unbending line. Some also noted the odd scarf he wore with his crimson collar of office. The gray material seemed to gleam in a way that the rest of the uniform did not, but no one dared speculate why he had chosen to wear it, or where he had gotten such an odd article._

_The one thing that – though many may have noticed – none dared look at for long was the single black glove that the Leader wore which completely concealed his left hand. It was more odd even than the glowing scarf._

_The weapon he carried at his side was, in contrast, widely admired and whispered about as he began walking once again, making his way to the throne. The weapon was obviously of Iscandri construction, and many speculated on how the Leader had come to possess it. The hand gun shone in all its golden brilliance in the bright spotlight that followed the Leader on his trek, eliciting murmurs of approval as he passed person after person._

_Suddenly, the near-silence was broken when several men and women began to chant the name of their Leader, just as they had on the day he had been crowned._

"_Desslok – Desslok – Desslok –" they all began to herald the Leader in unison, becoming louder and louder as he came closer to the throne._

_The Leader looked neither to the right, nor to the left as he went; his gaze fixed on his goal._

_The din of the crowd around him did not seem to distract him in the least as he continued onwards. If anything, the people's voices fueled him._

_He reached the dais upon which the throne rested and came to a sudden halt._

_The voices ceased._

_Silence, deathly silence suddenly reigned._

_The Leader raised his head and gazed upward, the circle of light still surrounding him alone. The brilliance fell over him like a waterfall of light, almost as though he were receiving some divine anointing from on high._

_But almost as soon as the moment began, it was ended as the Leader took his first step up to the throne._

_One step, and then another; then he was there, before the throne he had claimed what seemed like an eternity ago._

_He turned towards his people and began to speak._

Leader Desslok looked out over the crowd of officers assembled before him – a far different group than the one he had faced at the renaming of the capitol. These were seasoned men of war. Many of them had fought in the countless conflicts with the Cometines twenty, thirty, even forty years ago. One or two had even been alive to witness the restoration of Iscandar over a hundred and ten years ago.

In the presence of such men, the Leader had to fight not to feel inferior to them in at least some small way. After all – as he reminded himself almost daily – he too had fought his share of battles, some far more gruesome than any of these before him had ever seen in all their years of space warfare. And when it came to the art of the sword, he was by far their master. The nature of his war with his brother had dictated that it be so. So much of that conflict had been waged hand-to-hand, his brother's army within shouting distance of his own.

That had been a war for the very soul of Gamilon. "Deun the Usurper" as he had come to be known, had enlisted the aid of a cult, whose presence had – then – been felt planet-wide for many years. The cult, known as "The Followers of Guardiana" worshipped a dark spirit and its host.

The Leader would have simply found and eradicated the host, but there were – as usual – complications with that approach. The host was his own grandmother, a woman of much treachery and the means to do whatever she wished, even under the scrutiny of Leader Desslok himself.

Thankfully the woman, known now as "Aurelia Guardiana" had fled Gamilon for reasons unknown to them. Her presence had not been felt or heard of since shortly after Desslok had dethroned his brother.

Things were much different now with the leader of the Guardiana followers gone and Gamilon continuing to suffer from those cursed tsarebetim* that plagued the world. In some ways the world was much more settled than it had been before, but in others… it was more tumultuous than ever.

Leader Desslok stepped up to the railing of the balcony on which he stood to oversee this gathering. The amphitheater was packed now. Every seat held an occupant, and there were even some who had had to remain standing just to get into the enormous room.

The amphitheater was long and narrow with the Leader's perch being at the far end away from the entrance. Rows of seats lined each wall from top to bottom, providing a way for all to see the Leader at once and be recognized should they be allowed to speak during the assembly.

Desslok's eyes roamed the great expanse, searching for the one face he knew would not be present, the face of Admiral Raymond Talan, the one man in the GRN* who still openly persisted in opposing the plans to conquer Erats. But though he stood against the Leader, Desslok would never think of taking the usual steps to silence the man. He respected the Admiral far too much to resort to that. Raymond Talan had been the closest thing he had had to a father for most of his life. To deal treacherously with him… _that_ would be unspeakable. The Admiral was also the father of the one man Desslok had always considered his friend, Masterson – another face the Leader would not be seeing today.

After an intense argument – again involving the Erats situation – Desslok had declared that Masterson was to leave aboard a patrol ship and not return to Gamilon – or anywhere nearby – until he was so bidden.

It was the worst regret the Leader had ever had. Many a time he had thought about recalling Masterson to Gamilon, but he had been forced to deny that wish by… other forces.

Desslok looked now, not only at the men assembled here, but at the deep shadows that seemed to shroud portions of the room. He peered into them, looking for something he had only ever seen out of the corner of his eye, something he hoped he would never see clearly. He dared not mention it to anyone, lest they think him mad for thinking that he had spoken with a spirit of any kind, much less the one he had spoken with frequently ever since Masterson had been sent away.

The best thing he could do now was endure until Erats and her infuriatingly stubborn populace had been subdued.

There had been so many changes since the war for the throne. Not the least of them was the absence of the sword Desslok had become so accustomed to wearing. The Leader felt strange wearing no sword now. It had been so long since his blade had graced his side, but he had never forgotten the weight of it, the feel of it as it hung faithfully with the handgun he always wore. He sometimes found himself reaching for his sword at times of great triumph, or great frustration.

Now… all he had to reach for was empty air, so he had taken to raising his hands high as his sign of a decisive victory, or of some great announcement that he wished to proclaim to his people.

Today was one of those days.

The gathering before him was getting loud – even a bit boisterous.

Desslok made his presence known to the group, raising his gloved left hand in a request for silence.

The crowd instantly stilled.

"Gentlemen." Desslok began, his voice echoing through the great hall, sounding much grander than he had anticipated. "Today we gather here to speak of the continuing efforts to occupy a new homeworld for our people. It has come to my attention that we have encountered some… resistance from the Eratites."

At this murmurs of disbelief began to rise until the Leader went on, "These insurgents will be dealt with speedily. We have no time to waste and General Lysis assures me that he is doing everything he can to see that the incident of yesterday does not occur again."

Desslok paused and recognized an aged man sitting half-way up the wall on the right, closer to the entrance than the Leader.

"How do we know that this_ won't_ happen again?" the man asked, his tone insistent, but respectful. "That is exactly what we thought about the Cometines right before they stripped Iscandar."

Desslok nodded, "You have a fair point, General Hegel, but Dommel Lysis was not there when Iscandar was ravaged."

The old general accepted the Leader's rebuke, but something in his face told Desslok that he did not truly accept that as an answer.

"I know you do not all share the confidence I have in our military commander, but had you seen the skill and courage that he exhibited during the years I fought beside him, you would." The Leader continued. "I do not doubt his ability, and neither should you. He has prepared for this. He will not fail."

Not a single voice rose in protest. Those who sided with the Leader had no reason to say anything, and the few who harbored thoughts of doubting him, dared not speak their minds – at least… not yet.

* * *

"My friends." Captain Abraham Avatar stood on the deck of the rebuilt _Yamato_ battleship holding a glass of one of the world's most precious substances – purified water. "Today we are gathered here to witness something this planet has never seen before." He looked at the many lines of men and women. All of them wore the distinctive uniforms that had been designed and made for the crew of this new ship.

Each division sported a different color – sometimes two. Each group stood in one or two straight lines, their division leader standing at the front. Among the leaders were Wildstar, Venture, and Nova Forrester, along with many others including Patrick Orion, the veteran Avatar had said had always been his chief engineer. Apparently, this time would be no different. The strange Doctor, Sado Sane, was there as well, his squinty eyes looking out from behind his wire-framed glasses.

"Today we celebrate a new beginning," Avatar continued, "And with that beginning, we also must commemorate an ending," he held his glass up in a toast, "Today we give this grand ship a new name, one that hails from centuries passed, and holds in it the spirit we have sought to embody. Today '_Yamato_' becomes '_Argo_'_."_

There were murmurs all through the crowd, especially from those of Japanese descent.

"Don't worry," the Captain reassured them. "The name _'Yamato'_ is not gone forever. I know that to many of you she will always be known by her first name, but in honor of her resurrection – her second life, the EDF thought it fitting to also give her a second name."

The mutterings of disapproval turned into murmurs of understanding and appreciation.

"Now, just as the ship this one was renamed for set out on a voyage of great importance, so we must soon set out on one of much greater importance." The captain scanned the room, noting the expressions of determination that had settled on each and every face, young and old alike. "Let us remember this moment for as long as we live." And with that, he drank the water he had been holding through his entire speech.

It was cool and clear, just as all of Earth's water had once been. Now, clean water was a luxury to be rationed. Every one of the men and women assembled drank with care and soberly gazed upon the newly dubbed _Argo_, the ships that would be their home for who knew how long.

Avatar set his empty glass aside.

"Now, you all know that this journey must be accomplished in one year or less in order for it to succeed."

All nodded.

"The launch date was originally scheduled for November, but" the captain sighed heavily, "in light of the recent attack on the _Argo's_ previous location, it has been decided that the launch will be moved up to this week."

A collective gasp rippled through the crowd.

"If any of you wish to stay here instead of coming with us to Iscandar, you may do so. No one will think any less of you for staying." The soft din of the crowd ceased and Avatar continued, "You have all been briefed on the message we received from this strange ally we seem to have gotten from no-one-knows-where. Is it difficult to believe? Yes, it is. But is it impossible?" the captain looked straight into the eyes of every division leader, finally stopping at Derek Wildstar, "Many have given their lives to see that we stand here today. I would be a fool to say that what is to come will be easy, but I would also be a fool to say that it is impossible."

There was a moment of utter silence as everyone digested the captain's words.

Then, Avatar went on, "'While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.*' Today the Earth herself still remains. We must have faith that the times and seasons will one day soon be set right again. We must hold on to that promise. I know that not all of you share the views I do, but I believe that we _will_ succeed in this mission. Earth _will_ be restored, and we _will_ return home and see our home green and blooming once again."

Suddenly a great roaring cheer erupted among the men and women, and even those who didn't agree with the captain's religious tendencies did agree that they would at least do their best to save and restore their home. To think otherwise was… not an option. They _had_ to succeed. They just _had_ to.

* * *

**Episode 6 Notes:**  
* tsarebetim - scars  
* GRN – Gamilon Royal Navy  
* Genesis 8:22


	9. Episode 7: Into Hiding

**Episode 7: Into Hiding**

"Gaaaaah!"

The utter frustration in that one word spread over the entire jungle in an echo of anger that made the very tree sap shudder.

"Where have you gone?" the woman sank to her knees in the midst of the jungle and cried, "Where have you been stolen away to my Mariposa?" she wailed, clawing at hair that hadn't seen a good washing in weeks, perhaps longer. The wild look in her eyes spoke of long sleepless nights filled with unseen terrors.

"Where did she take you…?" the question tapered off into a whisper that abruptly turned into a sob.

"_No!"_ she suddenly chastised herself, coming back to her senses, _"it _cannot_ end this way! Giving _her_ the victory is not an option!"_

The woman turned her face to the tiny patch of sky that she could see through the thick canopy above and, fist raised in determination shouted, "I _will_ have my daughter back, Aurelia, nachash of all nachashim*! I _will_ have her returned to me!"

Then that little sliver of doubt that had been with her since she had been dumped on this deserted world started nagging at her again, _"How are you going to leave this place, you silly woman?"_ the voice stung. _"How will you find one girl among millions of stars? You are a fool!"_

"Get out of my head!" the woman bellowed at the torturous thoughts, then gritted her teeth and declared in a low, firm tone, "I _will_ leave here. The first ship that I chance to meet I will be aboard." Then she thought for a moment and added, eyes hardening, "No matter what I have to do to accomplish that."

With that, the woman stood and took her first steps of confidence onward, forging farther ahead into the jungle.

* * *

"Sir, we have to stop for repairs." The executive officer pleaded with his captain. "There is no way we can continue on in this condition. The Eratites* may have only one oniyyah,* but it is indeed a powerful one, and we have escaped it. Please, sir, we _have_ to stop." The man kept on, "We must assess our losses – the casualties were great; we do not even know who we lost in that dreadful fight, much less –"

"Shut up, Pauker." The captain snapped at his second in command. "Just because you were promoted in the field doesn't mean you can prattle on whenever you please now." Captain Yitzhak Raphan, commander of the _Rakiah Cobel,*_ let his annoyance be known rather loudly.

The conflict with the Eratite ship had ended in disaster with his ship being the only one able to limp away, and that just barely. Even Colonel Gantz didn't know they were still alive. If "alive" was the correct term. They had lost so many good men and women in that encounter… Raphan wondered how they could recover from such a blow. Better, he thought, to remain "dead" for a while and regain their strength as a unit before returning to Gantz's command. If they returned now… Not only would it be a disgrace to Raphan personally, but he would risk his crew being split up and sent in different directions to other ships who had only suffered minimal damage weeks ago at the "Pluto" battle.

The _Rakiah Cobel _had been his home for many years, and the ship's crew his family for just as long. He was not willing to hand that over lightly.

"Sir? We _have_ to stop now." The XO continued to insist, apparently immune to fear and good sense when it came to Raphan. Pauker was a new member of the crew, and as such had not earned the captain's respect yet.

Raphan narrowed his eyes at Pauker, letting his annoyance show plainly to the other officer. "I am aware of the situation." The captain growled, "Now, as I said before," suddenly his tone changed and the volume of his voice skyrocketed, "Shut up, Pauker!"

This, as last, earned Raphan some silence. The XO stepped back quickly and nodded, a stunned look finally crossing his gaunt face as he murmured, "Oh… kay…" letting his gaze drop to the floor.

"Crew of _Rakiah Cobel_," Raphan began, his voice echoing through the entire ship – or, what was left of her – "We have seen a great loss." He stopped, the emotion of this last battle starting to overcome him, but he swallowed his grief and pressed on, "As soon as we can find a suitable planet, we will land for repairs and rest before we return to Colonel Gantz's command. We must not return this way."

There were nods and murmurs of agreement on the bridge where Raphan now stood.

"We must –"

"Captain!"

Raphan was interrupted by the urgent voice of science officer on duty.

"Yes?" the captain asked, turning towards the man's post.

"We have found a world on which we may land, Captain." The happiness in the science officer's eyes was unmistakable.

"Let us land then." Raphan declared, "And end this nightmare."

A chorus of affirmations was the captain's only reply.

* * *

"Night comes too soon…" the woman grumbled as she slashed at the underbrush ahead of her, trying to steer clear of the worst thorns and itch-inducing plants. She had learned the hard way which leaves soothed the skin and which ones did quite the opposite. She grimaced at the memories of those unfortunate encounters.

"_Where to sleep tonight?" _That was always the question. At least water was abundant in this jungle. Shelter – that is, _good_ shelter, meaning the kind that won't wither or collapse on you during the night – was harder to conjure. Some night she just slept out in the most open area she could find accompanied by a small fire to ward off the night animals that would like to have her as a late dinner.

She was just about to hack through another batch of thorns when suddenly the ground beneath her feet began to rumble. She was caught off guard and almost fell, but caught herself on a nearby branch just in time to avoid a nasty bruise.

"_Volcanic activity?" _she thought puzzled, _"That's the last thing I need…"_ she rolled her eyes even though there was no one there to see her annoyance at this turn of events.

The rumbling, instead of dying down, began to get worse, and then an awful, deafening sound obscured every other noise in the jungle. The terrible roaring sounded almost like a thunderstorm and a waterfall had gotten in a fight and neither would be content to stop arguing.

She woman's hands shot to her ears and she pressed against them so tightly that her head began to ache from the pressure.

It did little good.

The sound persisted.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it vanished.

There was quiet again. The jungle itself was silent in a way that the woman hadn't heard it since she was abandoned here.

The wildlife didn't know what to think of the terrible racket, so they would stay hidden until they knew the horrendous noise would not hurt them in some way.

The woman, on the other hand, had no such inhibitions.

"_What _was_ that?"_ she asked herself, knowing now that it had been no volcano that had disturbed the night.

She pushed on ahead, towards where the noise seemed to have been loudest. Instead of hacking through the brush, she slipped through any openings she could find, hoping to stay as quiet as possible, just in case whatever it was turned out to be life-threatening.

A couple of minutes later she arrived at the first and only clearing she had ever seen on this planet before, and there, right in the middle of the open space sat a sad wreck – a ship, torn by a worthy enemy.

Then the woman's eyes lit up as she realized that it was _also_ a ship that still had the ability to fly.

* * *

The woman waited silently in the jungle, watching the ship, waiting for a way to board it.

The night hours wore on and she began to wonder if there was anyone alive on board or if they had all died before landing.

Then, just when she was about to come out of hiding and investigate, the ramp to the cargo hold descended and about twenty people streamed out, set up lights to work by, and began cutting away the damaged portion of the ship's outer hull and replacing it with new plating. They all wore protective suits of some kind, so she could not tell if they were men or women, but by the look of the ship, they had come from her world of origin, Gamilon.

From the looks of the ship and the size of the work crew, the woman figured it would take them several days to be able to finish the work.

That was _more_ than enough time for her to find a way aboard. The more pressing problem was figuring out how to _stay_ on board without getting caught or identified as an intruder. Luckily, she still have a couple of things stowed away from her ship – the one gifted to her and them stolen by the woman who had taken her daughter away and left her here to rot. She only hoped she remembered how to use the things she had been able to hide away before her exile here.

* * *

The woman found a hiding place near enough to the ship that animals would not venture there, so there was no need of a fire tonight.

She watched the work crew intently through the dark hours, observing their routine, trying to determine the best time to make a break for that single opening – the cargo bay ramp – as it appeared that that would be her only way in.

By the time dawn came, the woman knew the crew's schedule – when they would change shifts, when they stopped to eat or rest – but there were no openings that she could take advantage of – at least, none that they would give her. That was when she knew that she would have to create her own opening.

Her life thus far had been far from easy. Why should this be any different? She had had to make her own way in the world; and now, she would do it again. For Constance Mariposa. For her daughter.

Then, an idea came to her, and she quietly sneaked away to gather what she needed to enact the insane plan that had only now spawned in her desperate mind.

* * *

The day passed more quickly than the woman wanted. The sun passed overhead and began to sink into the horizon long before she'd made it back to the ship's landing site, but she continued back to the place, hoping that she would find, again, the work crew out hacking away the old hull.

She came to the edge of the clearing and nearly wept when she saw no one there. It was already well past midnight, closing in on the coming day.

She balled her fists and wanted to curse at the strangers who hadn't sent out anyone to work tonight.

"_Come out!"_ she screamed at them silently, _"Please, come out!"_ But to no avail. The clearing remained empty for the rest of the night.

The woman sat, dejected, just inside the jungle wall surrounding the ship. How was she to board the ship if they would not give her the chance?

Just before dawn, in the darkness that precedes the light of day, the woman heard something coming from the ship.

At first she thought it might be trying to leave and panic began to rise in her, but then she realized that they were only selectively testing the ship's systems, and by the sound of it, they were discovering that they still needed a good deal of work.

The woman smirked to herself. _"Good."_

A bit after dawn, the work crew slowly trudged out of the ship again and began their work anew, sauntering the new pieces together as best as they could, making the ship airtight again – not a small task considering all the holes the poor vessel had in her.

The woman looked on, thinking. _"I must move soon, else I risk exposing myself; but if I move too soon it will be just as bad."_ She let her mind wander for a moment to the dear daughter she had lost, the one she was now determined to find again, then drew her mind back to the reality at hand. _"I cannot wait."_ She finally decided, then immediately went into action, setting her plot into motion.

She pulled out a tiny whistle whose tones were far too high for her ears or the ears of the strangers if they were indeed from her own homeworld. Then she gave the thing a good hard blow.

As quickly as she could, she swung up into the nearest tree, far enough up so that she would not be seen or trodden under foot by the stampede of wild chazirim* that were, at this very moment charging this way in search of the female chazir that had called to them.

It wasn't half a minute before the sound of hooves began to reverberate around the clearing, making the crew stop and look about wildly in fear.

"Let's get out of here!" the woman heard one man shout before streaking into the ship just before the chazirim appeared at the edge of the jungle and trampled through the grass into the clearing, bearing down on the work crew.

The strangers began scrambling for higher ground.

Some fled to trees or tall rocks. Others were so desperate to get out of the way that they even climbed the lights they had set up for night time work.

The woman was so busy laughing at the spectacle that, if the situation had not been so dire, she would have forgotten to slip out of her hiding place and into the unguarded ship. But just as soon as she saw that most of the crew was either up a tree or running towards one, she descended and sneaked into the clearing, hiding in the tallest patches of grass she could find, careful not to run into viper nests in the process.

She reached the open ramp quickly and slipped inside, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darker interior.

Thankfully, the crewman who had escaped into the ship had run through the cargo bay and into another portion of the ship, so there was no immediate danger of her discovery; however she had no intention of being caught, so she continued through the cargo hold, silent as a whisper.

She sneaked through the nearest hall, checking around each corner before turning it, listening at every door until she found one that was dark and unoccupied.

She slipped inside, sealing the door behind her and letting out a sigh as she did so, nearly dropping to the floor from the release of tension.

She wasn't used to such covert operations. The sneakiest thing she had ever really done before this was hide in the wilderness from an insane dictator, but even then she hadn't been the one making the plans. She had only been a part of a great host.

This time, she was on her own, and she was just realizing how exhausting it was to be so stealthy. But the face of her child drove her to stay awake, to push through the angst and not let the stress rule her.

She looked around the tiny room – what obviously used to be someone's quarters. It was well-kept, clean – probably some ship rule no doubt. There was a computer interface on one wall, a cot just behind it, a small sink for washing, accompanied by a tiny lavatory screened off from the main room. There was a small closet for clothes and other belongings, but other than that, the place boasted no lavish features that she could see.

"_No matter_." She thought, shrugging, then stepped over to the computer. Just before she tried to turn it on, she looked down and noticed several holograms floating nearby the side of the bed.

The images were not very crisp – probably old. But there was one that was clearer than the rest. It looked like it might have been a family portrait. A middle-aged man stood with his hand on a young woman's shoulder. A woman about the same age as the man stood on the other side of the girl.

But there was one striking thing about the image. The young woman sported fire-red hair.

The woman's eyes widened and she leaned in towards the holo, then zoomed in on the strangely-colored hair. She nearly died of relief when she saw evidences of black hair roots starting to show at the base of the girl's red locks.

"_Dyed…"_ she thought, letting out a long breath, _"Thank the Shamayim.*"_

The woman turned away from the image and managed to activate the computer. It looked like the previous session had been active for days on end, and it was still logged in."

"_At least I don't have to hack into anything…"_ she thought wryly, _"After all… that was… my… brother's forte…"_ she felt odd thinking such a word as "brother."

Just before she had been left here on this world she had discovered that she did indeed have a family – a father and mother, and two younger brothers, but she had been denied the opportunity to reveal her true identity to them – an identity she was still learning about. In truth, she _didn't_ know who she was. Many times during her exile here she had wondered, _"Who is 'Lady Daratina of Gamilon' anyway? And why must I become her again?"_

The first question she had no real answer to, and the second she had come to realize would never be possible to answer. She could not go back twenty-four years and regain the life that had been ripped away from her.

No, she was not and never would again become "Lady Daratina." She was merely "Dara," a former cargo attendant, no more, and no less.

Something started to appear on the computer screen and Dara nearly gasped when she realized when it was.

A list of casualties from a recent battle appeared before her eyes.

She watched for a few minutes as face after anonymous face whisked by.

Suddenly she _did_ gasp as the face of the young woman whose picture she stood beside appeared before her.

"Computer, stop!" she ordered the thing.

Surprisingly, it obeyed her and halted on the image of the red-haired girl.

Dara read the short bio blip and tears began to well up in her eyes as she realized that the young woman had only been eighteen, not even fully grown, and yet her life had been snuffed out.

Realizing what she had to do, how she had to gain passage off of this world, Dara read the girl's name through bleary eyes as she pulled one more item out of the bag that had miraculously stayed with her all through her jungle trek.

She pointed the object at the screen and held it there until it gave a soft bleep, then, with shaking hands, she fastened the item just inside her left ear and activated it.

Dara looked at the reflection of the computer screen and her eyes widened as she realized that this girl's dyed hair was the same color as her own natural hair color. At least she wouldn't have to dye her hair again, so long as she wore this woman's face. And she would have no need of disguising her eyes either. The holomask had changed her green eyes to the same blue as the young woman's.

"Computer…" Dara began, taking a deep breath to bolster her courage, "Delete this record."

"Deletion confirmed." The computer replied.

Dara looked down at the floor, still coming to terms with what she was now doing. Then she steeled herself, stowed her bag in a small compartment she found under the cot and returned to the computer where she changed the passcode to something she would know and logged out of the session.

She started towards the door, knowing that she would now have to try her best to fit in with the crew.

Her only consolation was that this young woman had not been a crew member for long and was unlikely to have many friends on board yet.

Dara unlocked the door to the small room and stepped out.

She was nearly knocked over by another woman who was flying down the hall.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't see – Melda! Melda Dietz" the woman looked happy to see Dara – "Melda" now, and for the foreseeable future. "Where have you been? We've been looking for you!"

"Oh…" Dara hesitated, "I… got tossed around a lot during the battle. Ended up in the medical bay for a good while." She offered, "They wouldn't let me see anyone until I recovered."

"Ah." The woman nodded, "Got it. Those doctors think they own this ship."

Dara smiled a little, "Yeah," she said, dropping into what she _thought_ might resemble the speech of someone over a decade younger, "they do."

"Well, come on," the other woman beckoned her to follow, "Looks like the repair crew had gotten themselves into a jam outside. We have to chase away some wildlife before they can get back to work. Wanna come help?"

"Sure." Replied the new Melda, a bittersweet feeling starting to well up inside her as she followed her shipmate out to the chaos she had caused not an hour before.

* * *

**Chapter 8 Notes:**  
* nachash of all nachashim – "snake of all snakes"; "the worst snake of them all"  
* Eratites – people of Earth  
* oniyyah – battleship  
* _Rakiah Cobel_ – ship name, "Sailor of the Cosmos"  
* chazirim/chazir – wild boar(s)  
* Shamayim – "heavens"


	10. Episode 8: Through the Flames

**Episode 8: Through the Flames**

The crowds cheered all around her as Nova Forrester moved with the rest of the processional towards their awaiting ship. _Argo's_ launch preparations were not quite complete, but the captain had decided that it was worth the risk launching now since the Gamilons knew that they had one last battleship that the people of Earth could use against them.

Nova's mind wandered to the coming voyage.

"_Such a long way… 148,000 light years and back in just one year… I have no idea how we'll ever be able to do it; and with a ship that's older than my grandmother at that…" _ Nova shook her head, hoping the guy walking next to her didn't notice. _"We've _got_ to!"_ she finally decided, _"There's nothing else to do. Nothing. _This_ is what we all have to do to see our home live on."_

With that, something inside Nova transformed from wavering uncertainty into a concrete truth.

"Nova!"

Nova's eyes darted around the surrounding crowd, trying to see who had called her name so suddenly.

"Mother?" Nova finally saw the familiar face and hesitated to step out of line to see her, but quick glances ahead of and behind her revealed others stopping to see family or friends before their departure.

Nova quickly slipped out of the group.

"I didn't think you would be able to make it." Nova looked at both of her parents in surprise. "The hospital let you come, Dad?"

"Pfft!" Mr. Forrester scoffed, "Do you think they could keep me from saying good-bye to my one and only daughter?" Nova's father smiled at her, his tired eyes betraying just how worn out he was from the effects of the radiation poisoning he was suffering from. Then he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "They don't even know I'm gone."

"Dad!" Nova exclaimed, mortified, but also a bit amused at what her father had pulled off, "You have to get back."

"I know, I know." He assured, starting to lean on the cane he'd brought along. "I will. I just… I couldn't miss this."

"Thank you Dad," Nova replied softly and hugged her father.

"Now, Nova," her mother began in her usual didactic tone, "Don't take any unnecessary risks out there; and come back safe, you hear?"

"Yes, Mother." Nova nodded, smiling, "I won't; and I will."

"Okay," Mrs. Forrester bit her lip as tears started to well up in her eyes, "Just – please, please be careful, dear." She sniffled.

"Oh, Mother." Nova hugged the woman tightly, "Don't worry. A year isn't such a long time to be away." She pulled back and looked at her mother, "I'll be back before you know it." She started back towards the ranks of Star Force members.

"Wait!" Mrs. Forrester grabbed her daughter's wrist before she could get out of reach. "Take this with you." She handed Nova a tiny pin, and when Nova realized what she was being handed she protested.

"No, no I can't take this, it's –"

"Nova!" her mother's voice silenced her. "Take it. It will remind you of how much we want you to come back to us."

"Alright." Nova's hand closed on the small object and she looked into her mother's worried eyes. "I'll wear it every day." She smiled, shakily this time, "I promise."

Mrs. Forrester nodded and gestured to the many men and women still walking past, "Go."

Nova gave her parents one final good-bye and stepped back into line, but not without first pinning her mother's tiny, glowing diamond onto her uniform collar.

The stone was from her mother's first engagement ring, the one Nova's biological father had given her mother. Mrs. Forrester would still be wearing the ring if it hadn't been for that first planet bomb that had hit their house in Texas all those years ago. Nova and her mother had been out shopping that day and her father had taken a day off to see to some repairs that needed doing at the house.

It was the last day he would ever need to take off.

When Nova and her mother returned home, they'd found a smoking crater and the remains of what once was their home.

A year later, still grieving the loss of her husband, Nova's mother met Robert Forrester. The year after that, they were married and Nova assumed the last name of her step-father, though her first father's name – Lucas Trumaine – would never be far from her heart.

The line of crewmen and women seemed to have thinned a bit and most of the others who had stepped out to saw their good-byes had already made their way back into the group.

But even though she had to wait a bit longer to see the inside of the great ship again, she was glad to be able to see most of her fellow crewmen up ahead.

It seemed that most of them were older than her, by at least three or four years – and in some cases, thirty or forty. Not everyone coming on this trip was green. For that, she was eternally grateful.

As she came closer and closer to _Argo's_ boarding ramp Nova couldn't help but think, _"Just how many of us _will_ come back from this trip?"_

* * *

"Mark! Mark! Come over here!" the voice of young Jordy Venture beckoned his older brother out of line.

"What are you doing here, little brother?" Mark bent down on one knee so that he could be on eye-level with his brother. "They let you out of school?"

"Oh yes." Jordy answered, "Everyone got out of school early today so that we could watch you leave." The boy smiled broadly, but then his face fell a bit, "I wish you didn't have to go."

"I know, Jordy. I wish I didn't have to go either, but the fate of the whole world is in our hands, and we have to do our best to see that you and everyone else is safe here on Earth. They means we have to leave for a while." He paused, then added, "But we'll be back. Don't you worry."

"Yeah, I know." Jordy replied matter-of-factly. "I just wish it didn't have to take so long. I whole year is going to take for_ever_."

At this Mark couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, Jordy, a year'll go by much faster than you think it will."

"If you say so." The boy acquiesced. "But make sure to bring me back something, okay?"

"Okay, Jordy. I'll bring you something from Iscandar."

The boy's face lit up, and he let out a triumphant, "Oh yeah!"

"But until I get back you have to look out for Mom and Dad, okay."

"Okay. I will."

"Speaking of Mom and Dad –" Mark didn't get the chance to finish his sentence because, just when he was about to ask about his parents' whereabouts, they appeared, out of breath.

"Jordy! Don't run ahead of us like that."

"But Mark was gonna miss us if I didn't." the boy protested.

"Well… just don't do that again." Mark's mother gently chided the boy who nodded reluctantly before looking back at his big brother.

"Have a good trip." Jordy threw his small arms around Mark's neck and Mark hugged his brother back.

"I will."

Jordy let go of Mark.

Mark looked his brother in the eye and said in all seriousness. "Don't let anyone say we're not coming home, Jordy."

The boy looked back stalwartly and nodded in grim determination. "I won't, Mark."

Venture gave his brother one last quick hug and stood to bid his parents farewell.

* * *

The entire ship was alive with activity as everyone prepared for launch. Crewmen became more familiar with their stations and went through all of their pre-launch checklists very carefully before pronouncing their responsibilities to be complete.

_Argo_ herself seemed to resonate with the excitement and anxiety of the entire crew. Some were eager to leave, to see the rest of the universe – or at least some small portion of it beyond their own solar system. Others were understandably fearful of what lay outside the orbit of their own sun. Many were anxious about leaving family behind on Earth. After all, the radiation levels weren't getting any better.

The underground cities had already been forced to sink farther into the earth's crust more than once during the bombardment and radiation had seeped down through the earth, poisoning everything it touched, including every human who had the misfortune of encountering it.

Radiation in small proportions had not been so uncommon before the bombardment, and was easily tolerated by the human body, but the radiation they were plagued with now was more plentiful and of a more concentrated sort than the stuff that they were used to dealing with.

As a result, mankind had been forced to either try to shield themselves from the falling bombs, or hide beneath the earth.

Only one nation had been successful in protecting itself, and that was most likely because of its technical innovation and small size. The Israeli Union had somehow forged a shield that was even now holding back the dreaded radiation, but that shield was slowly shrinking, and currently was only able to protect the capitol of Jerusalem, and some of the smaller surrounding cities.

The crewmen and women of the _Argo_ hailed from all over the globe, a mix of nations, cultures, religions, even languages, all united by the singular goal of bringing home a cure that might save everyone they held dear from death.

It was with these heavy thoughts that every member of the crew went about their duties, and it was these very thoughts that pushed them to set aside their fear and take up their courage when the alarms began to ring an hour before the ship was set to launch.

* * *

"Captain! A message from the EDF." Communications' officer Homer Glitchman announced, "Gamilon missile are headed our way, bigger than we've ever seen before. ETA is ten minutes."

Captain Avatar didn't say a word for several painful seconds. Then he replied to Homer, "Thank you." And addressed the bridge crew, most of whom were much too young to be in such a role. "Crew of the _Argo_." He stopped and took a long look around the bridge at these faces he was about to embark on this journey with. He hoped that he would see them at the end of that journey as well. "Man your battle stations and prepare to launch!"

"But Captain, we're not ready –" one of the crewmen, Chris Eager by name started to protest but was cut short by the captain's steely, determined gaze.

Avatar continued, "We launch now, or we don't launch at all."

The response was a solemn agreement that risking all now was the only choice left to them.

Men and women seemed to fly around the ship here and there working as quickly as they could to accomplish one of the most important things any of them had ever done – get this ship off the ground in less than ten minutes time.

* * *

Nova's mind, previously clouded with thoughts of leaving her mother and ailing step-father alone, was now focused entirely on doing her part to make sure they all made it through the next eleven minutes alive.

As she worked she prayed.

"_They've finally found us…"_ she couldn't help but give an involuntary shudder at the thought of the ones who had tried to slaughter them all now knew precisely where they were and that they would move soon. _"Help us to do this right, Father. Because if we don't…" _Nova stopped for just an instant, frozen by the thought of their failure, then she remembered what the captain had said at the christening ceremony _"But You have promised that the earth _shall _remain until the end of the world comes. And this is not how the end of the world is prophesied to be. So I can only think that we _will_ make it through this." _A smile spread across her face involuntarily. _"Yes…"_ she thought, _"Yes, Father, I believe we will make it, perhaps by the skin of our last few teeth, but we will make it."_

With a new confidence, she dove back into her work, her fear gone.

"_These people are all crazy." _Thought Mark as he prepped his station for the launch. As the chief navigator he had to make sure that his timing was perfect in the upcoming launch, or else he could end up blowing them all to tiny pieces before they even got a chance to leave the atmosphere.

The global power network that was charging up _Argo's_ engines for the first time was at its limit. It had run so hard for so long that it would fail within a few hours, so their launch, though early, had been well timed.

The network was receiving energy from every country that would lend it to them: the American Union, Canadian States, Central American Territories, European Union, Russia, China, the Arab States, Israeli Union, Africa Alliance, even what remained of southern Asia and Australia were sending everything they could spare.

But even though there were so many supporters of this effort, there remained dissenters, those who felt that this was a useless endeavor and that they would all die anyway. Some had even gone so far as to commit acts of sabotage against the effort, destroying power relays in several countries, making organized strikes against the stations. It had gotten so bad in some places that the stations had been forced to post armed guards to stop the attacks.

One of the areas most effected by the acts of destruction had been Tokyo, Japan, where Mark and his family had lived for the past several years.

"_Why would you even want to try to stop this ship from taking off to find even the barest hint of a hope for us all?" _Mark shook his head in disgust, _"What I wouldn't give to make sure that Jordy and my parents could live on Earth as they rightfully should…"_

* * *

Derek stared at his station for just a moment, the reality of where he was and what he was about to do finally sinking in.

"_I'm here."_ He let out a long breath, the excitement trapped inside him still building despite the coming danger. He knew he might be plastered into a puddle in a few minutes, but for some reason that didn't move him. Feeling the form of this chair, the controls under the guidance of his hands, seeing the dark viewport in front of him, the very one that he knew would soon display the surface of his home. These things moved him.

"_I'm really here."_ He gritted his teeth and thought, _"Just you _try_ to shoot us down!"_ his mind echoed in defiance towards their absent enemies, _"Try it and we'll show you what we _really_ are."_

"ETA eight minutes on those missiles." Homer's voice broke into Wildstar's thoughts.

"_Eight minutes."_ Derek thought over and over as he checked and rechecked everything on his list.

Finally finished, he sat silently tapping his fingers on his armrest as all of his pent-up energy sought some sort of release.

After what seemed an eternity – probably only a minute or so in reality – the captain announced, "Crew of the _Argo,_ begin the launch countdown at two minutes."

A chorus of "Yes, sir"s went up and the mechanical voice of the ship's computer began to count down from one hundred and twenty agonizing seconds.

At one hundred seconds to go the captain ordered, "Disconnect the power network."

"Aye, sir." Orion replied, then announced a few second later, "It's been disconnected, Captain. Energy output for the engine is starting to rise."

At ninety seconds the announcement "Energy output at twelve percent." Came to the chagrin of almost everyone on the bridge.

There was silence on the bridge. Then one small voice dared to speak, "At this rate we'll never be ready in time."

To this the only response Avatar gave was a firm, "Be quiet."

From that instant onward the only sound that could be heard on the bridge was the ominous hum of energy building in the newly dubbed "Wave Motion Engine."

"Twenty percent." Orion announced, glancing nervously at the countdown to the missiles' arrival. Their time had been eaten away until only four minutes remained.

"Let's just go now." Venture suddenly exclaimed, his nervous anxiety finally getting the better of him. "We can make it –"

"No." Avatar replied, his gaze boring into Mark's and Venture instantly regretted his moment of weakness, "If we took off now our engine would sputter and die, and so would we."

"Thirty percent." Orion said, halting the confrontation and throwing a blanket of fear over the entire group.

How could they possibly live through this if their engine wouldn't charge quickly enough to allow them to even have a chance?

All eyes were glue on Orion as he stared at the power indicator, beads of sweat running down his face into his white beard.

Their countdown was into the finally thirty seconds and still the power level had not risen above seventy percent.

The tension on the bridge could have suffocated anyone who chose to walk in at that moment. Only three seemed unshaken by the engines slow start: the captain, Nova Forrester, and the curious science officer, Stephen Sandor who sat on the far right of the bridge, staring intently at his own stations' readouts, looking as though he hadn't a care in the world.

Mark felt like he would explode if he didn't do something right at that very moment.

Suddenly they were down to fifteen seconds and Mark reached out to lay a hand on the controls when Orion's voice burst through the room, "Engine output at ninety, no one hundred percent!"

"Venture, take off!" the captain ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Mark exclaimed and with shaking hands pushed the ship into its first real upward thrust, the one that would send them up into the atmosphere and closer to those incoming missiles, now only five and a half minutes away.

The ground rumbled and shook as the great ship ascended from the poisoned ground, leaving in its wake a hole in the earth where it had lain dormant for over two hundred years.

It didn't take them long to reach the lowermost portion of the atmosphere, and when they did, they discovered that the missiles were coming in faster than they had anticipated.

"Enemy missiles at two hundred thousand mega-meters and closing." Nova announced, watching the deadly blips move closer and closer on her radar screen.

"Wildstar, prepare the forward gun turrets to fire."

"Yes, Captain." Derek replied, more than eager to shoot something now that he knew he wasn't going to die on the ground.

Derek relayed orders to the men manning the turrets and within ten seconds the guns were aimed squarely into the path of the oncoming missiles.

"One hundred eighty thousand mega-meters." Said Nova.

"Fire on my mark." Avatar ordered.

Derek merely nodded, absorbed in the moment, ready to let the enemy have everything he could give them.

They waited.

And waited.

Suddenly they could see the outer shell of the first incoming missile with their naked eyes. It was bearing down on them, coming so fast that it seemed to fly through space like the universe was pushing it with invisible hands.

"Now!" Avatar ordered. "Fire!"

"All guns, fire!" Derek relayed.

As they all watched, strands of brilliant light streaked through the atmosphere towards the first missile, striking its target head-on.

But that was only the first of the swarm descending on them.

* * *

"_Argo_! Respond!" General Stone, Commander Singleton's aide shouted into the communications unit until he was red in the face – not really that much of an accomplishment for Stone.

"Why don't they reply?" the General asked Singleton angrily. "Are they dead already? We shouldn't even have sent them. We –"

"Quiet, General." Singleton ordered the other man. "Have a little faith in the abilities of Captain Avatar. And be patient."

Stone glared at the communicator, looking like he might kick it, but he withheld his frustration for the commander's sake.

"_Come on, _Argo_,"_ thought Singleton, _"Prove me right about you."_

* * *

An image sputtered to life in the middle of the throne room in the palace on Iscandar.

Starsha leapt up from her seat and ran to look at the picture.

The Eratites had managed to use the Iscandarium core once again to finish charging their new engine. When the energy from their world had proven insufficient, the core had taken up the slack and provided them with the rest of what they needed.

The images that met the young queen's eyes were intense. The ship was being assaulted by gigantic missiles, obviously of Gamilon craftsmanship. The first missile closed in… and then suddenly it was cut down by the ship's guns.

Starsha's eyes brightened as she saw the bravery of this group of Eratites whom she hoped to meet soon.

Then she saw the host of missiles that followed behind the first one and she gasped.

* * *

Every head in the EDF headquarters was glued to the screen that displayed the location of the _Argo_. The tiny blip was there for a moment, then disappeared.

All eyes widened and they were all about to despair when that same blip suddenly reappeared, beyond the Earth's atmosphere.

"EDF Headquarters, this is the _Argo._" The voice of Homer Glitchman came through the radio. "All enemy missiles have been destroyed. I repeat, all enemy missiles have been destroyed."

At that, a great cheer rose all through the room and travelled throughout the entire building, and then the whole world as news of the ship's successful departure was shared with the people of Earth.


	11. Episode 9: Preparing for Warp

**Episode 9: Preparing for Warp**

"Colonel Gantz, the entire wave of missiles has been destroyed!" the cowering crewman reported to his superior, who was now scowling.

"Send another wave then." Gantz ordered.

"We… cannot, Colonel." The crewman replied, looking away from Gantz and biting his lip nervously.

"And why not?" Gantz challenged.

"Umm… well… you see, Sir… we sent all of the _functioning_ missiles in the first wave." Replied the crewman.

"What do you mean 'all the functioning' ones? Weren't they _all_ 'functioning'?" Gantz looked at the other man as though he were missing some of his brain cells.

"Yes, Colonel, they were, but… when we launched them, a number of the missiles wouldn't activate, so… we could not launch them all."

"Well, how many_ did_ you launch?"

"Of the two hundred… Only thirty-four were launched successfully, Colonel."

"Thirty-four!" Gantz exclaimed, appalled at the turn of events, "Outrageous! Why so few? Certainly at least half should have been launched. Correct the problem immediately and send the rest."

"Y-yes, Sir." The crewman stuttered and hurried away to attempt to do as he had been bidden.

"Cursed Eratites!" Gantz whispered, and then thought, _"For the sake of my daughter and the people I hold dear, we _must_ prevail against this last ship… or else we have sealed our doom."_ A concerning feeling of dread was starting to grow in his mind. The strange itch made Gantz nervous – especially in the wake of this most unexpected event. These Eratites could ruin everything, destroy everything they all loved, and he had to fight – harder than he ever had before – to keep that from happening.

* * *

"Whew!" Mark used his damp sleeve to swipe the many beads of sweat from his forehead and face. "How on Earth did we survive that?" he asked, speaking just as much to himself as to those around him.

"Dumb luck, I guess." Derek piped in, letting out a relieved sigh of his own. "What _was_ that power surge we got right at the end of the engine charge?" he looked back towards Orion, puzzled.

"Don't be askin' me, Wildstar. I haven't got a clue either." The old engineer replied, shaking his head. Then he looked up at the Captain. "Captain Avatar?"

"Whatever it was, we can only be certain that it wasn't something we can control, so we can't count on it to bail us out of all of our problems." The captain took a moment and looked down at the many indicator lights and monitors scattered around the command center. Then he allowed himself a small smile, "But it was certainly a Godsend today." Avatar stood to address the entire bridge crew.

"We are not alone. Even though we travel through the unknown, we go with the thoughts and good will of our loved ones and friends, and we go with the hand of God Himself, as we have witnessed today. But be warned, we are not invincible. There will be casualties along the way. I am certain we _will_ return, but I cannot say how many of us will be aboard when we do." Avatar looked at the faces staring back at him and felt again the weight of his responsibility, to see to the safety of all of them. "But do not be discouraged, my friends. We _will_ come back. And when we do, the Earth will again be as it once was, green and flourishing with life."

With that, he sat back down in his chair and ascended into the captain's quarters, above the bridge.

* * *

"You know you can't last more than a few months like this." Dr. Sane said once Avatar turned around to face him.

"Perhaps, Doctor." Avatar replied simply, then winced as he stood.

"That wound of yours isn't getting any better, Abraham. And being under the level of stress that you're bound to be subject to as captain is only going to make it worse." Sane chided, "Why did you take this position? Certainly someone else could have done this."

"Perhaps, Doctor." The captain replied again, but this time he didn't stop there, "Perhaps someone else could have captained this ship, but none of them were chosen to do it. _I_ was. And because I was, I must do everything in my power to see to it that this endeavor succeeds. I have faith that I will live long enough to see that mission fulfilled."

Dr. Sane's face turned grimmer than it already was and he nodded, "Whatever you say, captain. But do yourself a favor. Don't do anything too crazy. The more you do, the less time you'll have."

"I know, Dr. Sane. That's why I already have a replacement in mind if it comes to that."

"Really?" Sane asked, surprised, "Who?"

"Someone who has more potential than he thinks."

* * *

Science officer Stephen Sandor sat staring absently at his station, thinking. The sudden energy surge they had experienced was a mystery to most – if not all – of the rest of the crew, but just before it happened, he'd seen a spike in the engine core's temperature. He had no doubt that whatever had truly happened had been caused by the strange stone that used to be the core of the message capsule they'd received from Iscandar.

The stone was sapphire and emerald, shot through with gold – quite a sight to behold. He had no idea what to call it, other than "the core," and that held no true meaning, so Sandor had secretly opted to call it "Iscandarite."

Captain Avatar had consulted him before deciding to do as the instructions in the engine plans said and use the capsule core as the heart of the engine itself.

Sandor remembered the extensive testing he'd done on the thing, looking for anything and everything that could cause some potential for harm to any of them. Finding nothing, he'd finally given his okay to use the strange rock.

Thinking about that brought him back farther in time to the day he'd been asked by Avatar to be this ship's science officer… _and_ its executive officer.

_The old-style corded phone mounted on the lab wall near the door rang and rang, and rang a third time before Sandor picked it up._

"_Lab 42."he answered absently._

"_Is Dr. Sandor there?" the switchboard girl asked._

"_Yes, this is he."_

"_Sir, you have a call from Captain Abraham Avatar, do you want me to send it through?"_

"_Of course, Miss Forbes." he replied, wondering what on Earth his friend, a seasoned officer like Captain Avatar might want with him, a science professor now. _

_There was a moment of silence before Stephen heard Avatar's familiar old voice. The phone systems underground weren't the best to say the least. There were no cell towers anymore, so cellular phones were out of the question. They'd all been reduced to land lines for the first time in a couple hundred years._

"_Sandor, glad you're there; I was afraid I'd have to come over and hunt you down myself."_

_Sandor laughed. "Yes, Captain, I'm here. Where else would I be these days? Earth needs a lot of help right now and I'm one of the few qualified to help her."_

"_Sandor, would you be able to find time today to come over to EDF headquarters? There's something that I need to ask you. It's quite urgent."_

"_With all due respect sir, why can't you ask me now?" Sandor asked, looking over his shoulder at the mess he was in the middle of working on._

"_Let's just say I'd rather show you a few things before I ask you." Came the Captain's reply._

"_I'll be there around three then."_

"_Good. I'll be in my office."_

_The phone went dead and Stephen set it back in is cradle. Stranger things had happened to him, but he wondered what this particular one was about. Avatar had sounded rather strange on the phone. Sensing the urgency of whatever Avatar was going to show him, he packed up his things and left the lab by a quarter 'til three._

Sandor remembered his surprise when, after being shown the message and plans from Iscandar, the captain had not asked him for recommendations about the proposed mission, but he had, instead, asked Sandor to come and serve as chief science officer and XO on board the rebuilt _Yamato_.

_Stephen stood speechless. Him? Be a science officer – and worse an XO? On a ship?!_

"_Well…, sir, I've never done anything like this before-"_

_Avatar held up an interrupting hand._

"_I know, Sandor, and I know you won't take this request lightly. All I ask is that you think about it for a while." He said._

_Sandor sighed, letting out some of the surprise and anxiety of the moment. The request was only fair._

"_Of course, Captain, I'll do that."_

"_Now, get back to your lecture notes. You do still have a job after all." Avatar turned his back to Sandor and smiled. The professor had made no move for the door._

"_Go on." Avatar made a dismissive shooing motion with his hand._

"_Yes, sir." Sandor said slowly, and left the office at an equally sluggish pace, thinking seriously on what he had just been asked._

Sandor breathed a short laugh at the memory of Avatar's easy-going manner and confidence in his choice of an executive officer. Sandor, on the other hand, had not been at all sure. After all, why give up a successful, safe teaching career to travel to a completely different galaxy and retrieve something that they had never seen from a woman who might not even be real?

_A few hours after Sandor left EDF, he had returned, this time to ask for a copy of the Iscandar message. Minutes later he left with his prize._

_At his apartment off campus, Stephen watched the message over and over again, looking for any hint that this was a fraud, but even after six hours of looking he could not find a single incriminating thing. This was very real._

_Stephen played the message once more, this time actually listening to Starsha of Iscandar's message of hope for him, and for the world._

_As she spoke Stephen found that he couldn't look away. She spoke the truth. Deliverance had come, but they, with God's help and strength had been tasked with retrieving the answers that had been provided for them._

Sandor remembered exactly what had gone through his mind at that point in time; he remembered the doubt, the questions of how it would ever work, and then, he remembered the overwhelming assurance he had finally found when Avatar had renamed this ship. He could still cling to that promise the captain had reminded them all of; while the Earth remained, hope existed for its restoration. This, he knew with unwavering confidence.

* * *

Time seemed to slow once the ship reached open space. The peace was a welcome relief after the frightful showdown they had just endured.

Most of the crewmen and women who hadn't been on a battleship before were a bit on edge about what was to come, though their nerves were somewhat soothed by the veterans on board, including Orion, the chief engineer who had managed to sneak down to the engine room to have some time with the "wave motion engine" - as it had come to be known – without too many interruptions. He had much work to do before the day was out.

Orion stood, arms folded, deep in thought, staring at the various monitors lining one section of the massive engine. He'd checked several things, making sure the engine was functioning normally after that surge. So far everything seemed fine – even better than fine. The engine was working even better than they'd anticipated which boded well for their time estimates on reaching Iscandar and making it back on time.

But one thing about this new engine puzzled him. Why had the Iscandari Queen insisted that they use the message core as the main component of the engine? It made no sense. Engines didn't have rocks embedded in their centers. At least, no engine he'd ever worked with before.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he saw someone approaching out of the corner of his eye. A flash of red. Maybe Dash needed to consult with him about the weapons' power systems.

He turned to look at the person heading his way and was surprised to see, instead of Jordan Dashell, Derek Wildstar was trudging towards him, head down, hands in his pockets.

"What's on your mind, Wildstar?" the old engineer asked.

Derek didn't look up right away. Instead he stopped and leaned against the engine's bright orange covering. He didn't speak immediately, but the look on his face told Orion that the young man was about to burst if he didn't speak soon.

"Why did he do it, Orion!? Why!?" Derek suddenly exclaimed. "Why did he leave _Yukikaze_ behind? You've been his chief engineer for a long time. How does he live with himself doing something like that?"

"Ah…" Orion nodded, "I thought it might be something like that…" he sighed, "Wildstar, there are some things about the captain that you and I will never know, but there is something I can tell you right now, and that's that the captain's a good man. Everything he does, he does for a good reason. You weren't the only one who lost someone they loved that day at Pluto."

"I know that, Orion." Derek replied, irritated, "I think _all_ the families of those men and women ought to know why he left them behind to die."

"All of them?" asked the engineer.

"Yes!"

"Then you'll have to include the Captain himself."

Derek's eyes widened. "Wha…?"

"You may have lost a brother at Pluto, Wildstar, but Captain Avatar lost a son."

Wildstar's expression went completely blank. The anger he had been venting, now vanished into something else, perhaps disbelief.

"The captain had to leave them, and from what I heard while I was aboard the flagship that day, your brother forced the captain to leave them. Before we all knew it, Alex had turned his ship around and made a run into the enemy fleet, scattering them and taking some of them with him when _Yukikaze_ was destroyed."

Wildstar's face began to melt and a look of horror appeared, "Alex… he left the ship to – He left _knowing_ he would die then…?"

Orion nodded slowly, "Yes, Wildstar, he did. He did a very brave thing so that we could be where we are today."

Derek looked away from the old man, turned, and left, hiding the bitter tears that had begun to well up in his eyes.

"_You died for us… You died so we could save everyone else… I want to make that worth something."_ Derek's thoughts echoed loudly in his mind as he left the engine room, heading back to the small quarters he shared with Mark, his mind in a state of mild shock.

* * *

"All chief officers, please report to the operations room."

The announcement echoed through the whole ship, interrupting many of them as they unpacked what few possessions they had been able to bring with them.

Everyone hurried to the meeting, wondering what the captain had planned for them now.

When all were assembled, Avatar began to speak.

"In order to reach Iscandar, we must travel as quickly as we can to the Magellanic Cloud. To do that, Starsha herself sent us detailed instructions on the execution of a space warp."

Murmurs of disbelief, even fear, could be heard in the assembly.

"Everything from her that we have had the occasion to use thus far has proven trustworthy." The captain let his gaze sweep across those assembled. When he came to Wildstar, instead of the look of defiance that he'd seen in the boy hours before, now he saw a deep determination. It made his glad to see the unexplained change. Finally turning his eyes to the rest of the officers, he continued, "Science officer Sandor will now explain how we will accomplish that."

Everyone's eyes went to the professor turned XO.

"Time consists of thousands upon thousands of waves." An image of time waves rolling by appeared on the giant panel installed in the floor.

"Each wave consists of a crest and a trough." Sandor indicated the top of several waves and the valleys between them. "Right now, we're traveling along those waves normally." An image of the ship appeared in the image, flowing along the waves, just as anyone would expect it to. "But, in order to move more quickly through space, we must jump from one wave crest to another, skipping the trough entirely and thereby cutting our travel time considerably."

"So how're we going to do that?" the question came from Eager, one of the tactical officers.

"The specifics are for Orion and me to work out. But I can tell you that it will require precise timing on our part. Warping too early or too late could land us inside a planet." Sandor searched for the two faces he needed, "Also, Venture, Forrester, we will need your assistance to prepare for this."

Mark gulped at this, his skin instantly becoming clammy as he thought about executing such a precise operation.

Nova looked over at Venture and noting his anxiety, she laid an encouraging hand on his shoulder, then looked back at Sandor and said for them both, "Yes, Sir,"

"Very good then." Captain Avatar stepped back into the spotlight, "All of you get back to your stations. Instructions on how to prepare your division for the warp are available to you on the ship's network. Read them thoroughly before you begin your preparations. One wrong move and we could all end up dead in a few hours. But I have more faith in you. Venture,"

Mark's eyes shot up to the Captain, fear written in them.

"Sandor will coach you on what you're to do. Don't be too worried. He was a professor after all. I'm sure he can teach you what you need to know."

A nervous laugh rippled through many of the group, including Venture.

"Miss Forrester, we will need you to help us calculate the best location for our first warp."

Nova nodded.

"Now go. Make this old ship proud."

A chorus of "Yes, Sir's" met his ears just before all the officers disappeared to do what they'd been instructed.


	12. Episode 10: Place of Remembrance

**Episode 10: Place of Remembrance**

"All hands, prepare for warp." Said Captain Avatar, just as unsure as any of his crew as to what lay in store for them in the next few minutes.

Everyone scrambled to get into place – everyone that is, except Venture who had been sitting quietly in his seat ever since Nova left to do the launch prep. He was staring out into space, a look of unease on his face.

"Mark?" Wildstar tried to get the helmsman's attention.

"Mark?!" Derek socked him in the shoulder this time.

"What? What?" Mark jerked like he'd been shot. "Are we there?"

"Uh, yeah, Venture. You don't hear the alarm going off all over the ship?"

"Oh… Yeah…"

"What's wrong with you? You're acting like a big baby, now put on your 'big boy shoes' and get us to Mars."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Mark replied, his stomach feeling like it would either plummet to the floor any second, or deliver up his last meal. The Captain's words to him still echoed in his head and he wasn't sure if he could deliver what was needed this time.

_The computer will do most of the work for you. But – " the Captain paused, his face much too serious for Mark's liking. "_You_ and _only_ you can tell it exactly when to make the jump. Go too early or too late, and there's no knowing _where_ we'll end up." _

_Avatar looked the young man right in the eyes, "But I trust you'll be able to do this. There is no doubt in my mind that you are the best man for this job." He gave the young helmsman a fatherly clap on the shoulder. "Just trust those instincts you've been honing during your time at the Academy. When it's time to jump, you'll know it."_

Those words were a great burden, but in some inexplicable way, they also gave Mark a spark of hope that he wouldn't completely botch this historic moment, and that hope came none too soon because just them, the thirty second countdown appeared on the display before him.

* * *

"What are they doing?" Gantz asked, staring out at the strange enemy ship. Receiving no reply he tried again, "Will someone please tell me what the Eratite ship is doing?!"

"We don't know, Colonel." One of the bridge crew finally replied. "Their energy signature is building quickly, but their weapons haven't been charged." The officer suddenly blanched, at least, as much as his blue skin would allow him to, "Sir, certainly they aren't capable of –"

"Apparently they are," the colonel gritted his teeth as he thought, _"What luck – we find them again and now they know how to jump across space. Who gave them this knowledge? How did this happen?"_

In that instant, the Eratite ship vanished.

* * *

"Masterson!" David Lysis' voice echoed through Talan's quarters, "There's been a change in the Eratite offensive."

"What kind of change?" asked Masterson.

"They've – warped."

At this, Masterson sat up straight in his chair. "They have?"

"Yes, and it appears Gantz's fleet was caught completely off guard. It was a good idea to stay tuned in to their main frequency. We can hear everything – even if it's encrypted we can access it with your authorization codes."

"Yes…" Masterson replied to David's enthusiastic speech. "Yes, it was a very good idea. Thank you for the information."

"I'll let you know if I hear anything else."

"Yes, thank you." Masterson replied, and both men signed off.

"_So," _thought Masterson, _"If you gave them this technology, Starsha, what _else _did you give them? If you gave them what I think, then no one, not even Leader Desslok himself will have a prayer against them. But with that knowledge comes a responsibility to use it wisely. It seems they have not yet been confronted with that reality. I just hope that it will not cost any lives for them to learn the gravity of what they've been entrusted with."_

* * *

She had never felt so strange in her life. Nova could see odd things floating around her – or maybe they weren't foreign objects so much as the distorted forms of the other crew members around her. Everything was so slow, but faster than light itself at the same time.

She tried to turn around to see how Captain Avatar was faring with his injury, but she couldn't move. It was like she was glued to the seat and her head pulled forward. It felt like she was a rock in a slingshot about to be slung.

Suddenly she felt dizzy from the distortions in her vision.

Then just as suddenly as it started, the warp was over. Everything looked just as it had before the jump.

"Are we there yet?" Eager's Southern drawl broke into the moment and shook everyone out of the thick, deep silence.

"Yeah." Wildstar replied for Venture, then saw the timer on the helmsman's display "And only sixty seconds gone by."

"That's amazing!" Homer exclaimed from his post

"That may be so," Sandor interrupted, "but that jump fried some of the computer components. I'll have to repair or replace them. We still have some work to do before we can say we've mastered warping."

This sentiment earned him sober nods from most of the bridge crew.

"Captain, I'll take my leave now if you have no objection." Sandor looked up to the Captain's chair.

"No, of course not. Go ahead."

"Thank you." Sandor nodded his appreciation and left to gather his repair group.

Several hours passed before Sandor returned announcing that the problems had been fixed.

"We should try again, Captain." The science officer suggested. "It will give us a chance now to see if we have bigger problems than just a few bugs in our simulations."

The Captain took a long moment, then said, "I agree. Miss Forrester," he looked at Nova, "Make the necessary preparations."

"Yes, Sir." Nova replied, and immediately began work.

The process took less than twenty minutes this time to complete and soon the new calculations for a second warp were entered into the navigation computer.

Mark, sweating just a bit less this time, stared at his countdown, his heart still pounding, but the feeling of overwhelming dread ebbed as the ticking number cycled closer and closer to zero.

Finally the countdown reached one second.

Mark took a deep breath and the instant it hit zero he initiated the warp, this time closing his eyes, knowing that if he didn't, he would come out of it feeling dizzy just like last time.

The warp still felt so strange – like he was somewhere out of time, but embedded deeply in it at the same time – a feeling of unbelonging. The feeling quickly faded however when the ship appeared again, this time just outside the orbit of the gas giant, Jupiter.

"Good work, Venture." The captain said almost as soon as the warp distortions had faded from sight. "Sandor, what –"

Avatar didn't get a chance to finish his question, because at that instant the ship was suddenly and violently jerked forward.

"Wha –?!" Wildstar exclaimed, then immediately dialed up engineering, "Orion! What are you _doing_ down there?"

"It isn't us, Wildstar." The old man defended, "Whatever that was, we had nothing to do with it."

"It's Jupiter's gravity." Nova broke in, "We've just slipped into it. The warp… I miscalculated…" she said, an apologetic look on her face.

"No time for regrets now, I'm afraid." Sandor said, "If we don't get out of this gravity field we'll be pulled to Jupiter's surface and the hull can't withstand pressure that high."

"Well what do you suggest we do then?" Wildstar asked wryly.

"Find a place to land between here and the surface." The science officer replied.

"Oh right, just find some little patch of ground floating in the –" Wildstar began, but was suddenly interrupted.

"There's a landmass orbiting the planet not too far into the atmosphere." Nova announced.

"Sky…" Derek looked around sheepishly hoping no one had noticed his previous statement.

"Venture, take us down." The Captain ordered.

"Yes, Sir." Mark said, still trying to process the events of the past several hours, his mind racing. _"What are we doing here? How are we going to ever get out again?" _fear swelled up in Mark's gut as he pushed the throttle forward and took the ship down towards the strange floating mass.

"All hands prepare for impact." The announcement rang through the ship, sending everyone headed for the nearest safe place to take refuge.

Less than a minute later, _Argo_ crashed down, forced into the landmass by Jupiter's gravity.

Outside, plants and trees snapped and groaned at the ship's passing. The crew lurched forward, then suddenly jerked to a grinding, screeching halt.

For a full count of ten seconds there was silence onboard, broken only by the ringing of alarms.

"Sandor, damage report." Said Avatar.

"A hull breech on the third bridge; and moderate damage to the port gun turrets. Other than that, we've made it all in one piece, Captain." Replied Sandor.

"Evacuate the third bridge and contain the breech." Avatar ordered.

"Already in progress, Sir." Sandor said. "The last of the crew are leaving the area now."

"Once everyone is accounted for send IQ-9 out to survey the area and find out if it's safe to send anyone out there."

"Yes, Captain."

* * *

IQ-9 rolled into the recon plane's docking area and swiveled his photoreceptors around to make sure everyone had left the dock before he opened it to head outside.

Seeing no one, he pressurized the dock accordingly and waited for the airlock to open for him to leave.

Once outside he immediately noticed the atmosphere change. Heavy gas clouds skirted past him as he hovered over the ground on his own mini-repulsors Sandor had built for him just before the ship's launch. The air was much thicker here than on Earth and the ambient temperature was higher than the crew would consider comfortable, but the outside conditions were sufficiently safe for the crew's suits.

IQ hovered farther away from the ship, scanning everything he could, looking for anything out of place or dangerous that a recon party might come in contact with.

He roamed a good ways away from _Argo_, reporting in every ten minutes with a summary of what he had found thus far. Nothing truly unusual struck him until he came to a clearing a half mile or so from the ship.

The sight he encountered wouldn't have been too out of place back on Earth before the bombings in countries like India or Nepal, but here on a chunk of land floating around a gas giant, it was completely novel.

IQ logged it and reported back to the ship that he had found something they might want to see.

With that, he headed back quickly, the strangely marked rock face that now towered behind him slowly disappeared into the jungle-like undergrowth.

* * *

"There's a _tomb_ out there? Are you serious?" Wildstar exclaimed as he and the rest of the team suited up to go outside. "How can you be sure about that? It doesn't even make any sense."

"Perhaps this was once a piece of some other world." The robot offered.

"Yeah right. What world? Gamilon?" Wildstar quipped.

"That is a distinct possibility." Replied IQ, "Or it could be a piece of a world that has been dead for hundreds of years. There is no way to know much about it without going in."

"We're… going in?" one of the other crewmen asked, looking unnerved at the prospect.

"Yeah, Royster." Wildstar turned to the squeamish guy, "Of course we're going in. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I think I lost it somewhere under my bunk." Royster replied, trying to disappear behind Sandor as he said it.

"Come on," Sandor stopped the short science team member from trying to scurry off, "we won't be gone long, and I'm sure there isn't anything left in that tomb that can do anything of harm to any of us."

"You're sure?" Royster asked, his whiny voice starting to screech just a little.

"Yes, I'm sure." Sandor replied, then thought, _"I hope he's not like this all the way there and back."_

"Okay…" Royster acquiesced. "Fine."

"Everybody ready?" Wildstar asked all gathered.

His question was met with a chorus of affirmation.

"Let's get going then. The sooner we get outta here, the sooner we can be back."

As others shared similar sentiments, they set out towards the monument IQ-9 had discovered.

The hike wouldn't have been strenuous under normal circumstances, but the high pressure - even in Jupiter's atmosphere – was enough to leave them all huffing and puffing by the time they were half-way there. But once they reached the site, all thoughts of fatigue vanished and looks of awe, horror, and curiosity appeared on every face.

"So… how do we get in?" Wildstar stared at what appeared to be the door to the place.

"Maybe we should tell it we're friends and the door will open." Offered Royster.

"Yeah, and I'm an Elf." Quipped one of the other group members.

"Shut it, Clemens," Wildstar shot back at the offender then said, "Sandor, any ideas?"

The XO didn't reply right away and Derek turned to look at the man and was surprised to see him staring at the rock face.

"Sandor?" Derek tried again.

This time the man stepped towards the entrance, suited hand outstretched. Without a word he touched the door.

Nothing happened.

"You okay?" Derek tried one more time to get through to the strangely entranced science officer.

Instead of replying, Sandor moved his hand from the center of the door to six indented points placed at intervals around the center.

Nothing happened for a moment, then, gradually, light began to emanate from the door and streaked from one indentation to another, creating a six-pointed star.

Finally Sandor spoke, "A Shield of David? On Jupiter?"

No one replied to his query. They were all too busy staring at the door as it slowly began to rise from the ground, opening the tomb to them, then rumbling to a stop several moments later.

"Alright, Clemens, you and Harrison stay out here, just in case something unexpected happens." Wildstar looked at the two men in turn, "Got it?"

"Sure, Wildstar." Clemens replied, "We'll let you know if anything happens."

"Alright then. Let's go in. Everyone have their lamps ready?"

In response a host of artificial lights flickered on.

"Great. Don't want anyone getting lost in here. Find a partner and keep in radio contact at all times." Wildstar paused, then continued, "And remember, your handhelds are your friends. Scan everything with them. I'm sure Sandor will have a great time going through everything we find later. Let's move out. Meet back here in an hour."

With that, the group broke up and scattered into the tomb, most moving slowly, cautiously into the unknown, all that is, except for Sandor who, walked straight through the thick darkness and into a cavern much farther back in the tomb.

Realizing that Sandor was walking alone, Derek hurried after him, _"I guess I'm stuck with him for this one."_ He thought. _"I wonder what's got him so spooky all of a sudden…"_

Wildstar walked through the darkness, looking this way and that, trying to see what lay beyond the light of his lantern. The place was getting stranger by the second. And it didn't look like any tomb he had ever seen. There were no signs of mourning to be seen. At least, not here.

Finally he came to the room Sandor had entered before him. He stepped inside and stopped short.

Light from Sandor's lantern was shining all through the room, refracted through crystals placed everywhere. But instead of shining randomly around the area, the light coalesced into the center of the room, which Wildstar now realized was circular.

Wide-eyed, he stared at the strangest thing he had ever seen, a stone altar. On it was carved foreign symbols.

"S – sandor, can you read that?" Derek pointed to the writing.

"Don't know." The science officer replied, then stepped up to the altar and began studying the symbols intently. "It's in a form of ancient Hebrew."

"So can you read it?" asked Wildstar, still standing at the room's entrance.

Sandor took a deep breath, then sighed, "No, unfortunately not…" he continued to stare at the altar, "Though… I think I can make out one word…" he squinted at the symbols, "Remind…. Remember… Remembrance…"

"What? So this person's tomb is about remembering something?" Wildstar asked.

"This is no tomb; a place of great sadness, perhaps, but not a tomb." Sandor documented all of the writing and began to circle the strange room. As he did, the light danced with him, somehow lightening the sense of sadness and melting away some of Wildstar's anxiety.

"Wildstar!" the radio crackled in Derek's suit helmet, "We've got a problem out here!"

"What's going on?" Derek barked back.

"Looks like a Gamilon scout group heading our way – they've seen us!"

The sound of laser-fire came through the radio.

"Everyone out! Now!" Wildstar ordered the entire party. "Weapons ready; we've got company coming."

Sandor took one last look around the strangely majestic room. Just as he was about to rush after Wildstar, he saw something glinting in the far corner. He knew it was urgent that he leave now, but something inexplicable drew him to the mystery object.

He dashed to the corner and reached out his hand, closing it around something small and metal. Without really looking at it, he shoved the small item into an outside pocket and zipped it closed so that whatever he'd found wouldn't be lost in their return to the ship, then he hurried after Wildstar.

* * *

"They came out of nowhere, Wildstar. One minute it was quiet out here, then Harrison says he sees something out in the brush. I thought was just some kind of wind, but then those guys pop up and start trying to fry us like eggs in a skillet."

"You don't have to apologize, Clemens, just don't get killed on the way back to the _Argo._" Wildstar replied.

"Yeah, I think I can do that."

"Alright then, now all we have to do is figure out a way to distract them while we get out of the area." Derek looked around, all the while wracking his brain for some way to do this without getting himself or anyone else toasted.

"I have an idea." Sandor's voice interrupted Derek's thoughts. "But I'll need everyone's help to do it."


	13. Episode 11: Ee Katan Zakkar

**Episode 11: Ee Katan Zakar**

"They haven't made a move since landing on Ee Katan Zakkar*, Colonel." Said the tactical officer.

"And the report from the outpost?" Gantz asked.

"They've sent out scouts to see what the Eratites are doing. They caught up to the enemy when they stopped at the… Place of Remembrance."

"_They've found it?"_ Gantz thought, beginning to feel uneasy at the prospect of that strange place having been found by the Eratites. What had they done there? More importantly… what had they found? "Does the report say that the enemy opened it?

"They did, Colonel." The officer replied, "But our scouts interrupted them not long after they breached the door."

"They destroyed the entrance?" Gantz asked, wide-eyed.

"No, Sir, they opened it."

"_Opened_ it?" Gantz exclaimed, suddenly quite terrified at the idea and its implications, _"They know of the Megen*…"_ he thought, _"What else do they know of us that they shouldn't…?"_

"Drive them away from the site, then send part of the scout group in to check the place and re-seal it. We can't have them desecrating it. Leader Desslok will have us all executed if he finds out they've even gotten near that place."

"Yes, Sir."

"And get as close as you can to that ship. I want all the data we can get on them." Gantz narrowed his eyes as he thought about that alien ship.

"Yes, Sir."

"_I may be against slaughtering you all, Eratites, but I must protect my own people, and I will not hesitate to kill you if you threaten the lives of my crew or family."_ Gantz thought as his ship sailed closer and closer to the enemy's resting place on Ee Katan Zakkar.

* * *

"Stay down!" Wildstar whispered harshly to the group he was with. A couple of them seemed overly jumpy and the last thing he needed was antsy crewmen running out into enemy fire and getting killed. "Sandor should be just about ready."

"Can't you radio him and see?" one of the science officers asked, her voice shaky.

"No. We can't risk that the enemy might be able to trace our position by the comm signals." Derek saw the girl's eyes widen, "Don't worry, Sandor's got it under control." He indicated the XO's position with a tilt of his head. "We should hear something any second."

Just then, an explosion erupted from somewhere off to the right, a ways away from the strange door they'd come through earlier.

Almost instantly laser fire registered in everyone's environmental monitors.

"Go!" Wildstar ordered, sending his group running through the jungle, back the way they'd come. Derek could tell that some of them were scared witless, while others were somehow managing to enjoy the bizarre experience. But there was one thing they all had in common – a slightly spooked look hovered over them. Something in that cavern had fallen on them all like a spell. Perhaps it was fear of the unknown, or maybe just the alienness of the experience, or how Sandor had opened the door with seemingly no difficulty. Whatever it was, they would have a _lot _of debriefing to do once they got back aboard ship.

Suddenly Derek's helmet mic screeched with Royster's shrill voice, "We're all gonna die!"

"Shut up and run, nerd." Clemens replied, putting an end to the wailing and causing the short science officer to run after Clemens faster than Derek had ever seen Royster run.

The group had just broken through a thick stand of trees when Sandor suddenly appeared beside them, right arm hanging oddly at his side; he was in the process of trying to secure it somehow, but without much luck.

"Sandor?" Wildstar caught a glimpse of the other man now running with the pack. "You caught up a lot faster than I expected." Wildstar slowed, pulling back to where Sandor was, and switched over to a private channel so that only the man next to him could hear what he said, "What happened to your arm?"

"It…" Sandor avoided Derek's eyes, "I'll just have to get Dr. Sane to put it back in when we get to the ship." He pointed to his bad arm, "Can I have a hand with him?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." Wildstar helped the XO get his arm into a makeshift sling, which wasn't so easy to do while running and breathing hard, trying not to be killed by whatever enemy might be following.

"How'd you manage that explosion?" Wildstar asked,

"Sandor didn't reply right away, "Well… let's just say I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Derek would have asked what that meant, but just then, the tree to his right exploded into thousands of wooden shards.

"They found us that fast?" Derek exclaimed.

"No," Sandor craned his neck to look back, "it's another group. I don't recognize any of them."

"I'll hold them off; make sure the party gets back to the ship."

"No, Wildstar, I'll stay –"

"Sandor, you're out an arm and I've still got both of mine."

"Then we'll _both_ stay." The science officer replied with more vigor than Derek had ever seen from him.

"Oh… kay." Derek hesitantly agreed, "Just don't lose the use of any other limbs, alright."

"Agreed." Sandor nodded.

Derek switched back to the shared channel, "Clemens, take the lead, Sandor and I will hold them off until you get away, then we'll follow."

"Aye, Sir," replied Clemens, then he gave a marine-like hoot and took off, ordering the rest of the group, Royster in particular, to "run their tiny little legs off."

"Quite the motivationalist isn't he," Sandor commented.

"He'll get them back." Derek replied, "So how are we going to pull this off?"

"I suggest we hide and shoot as well as possible."

"Good enough, I guess." Derek replied, "I'll see you back at the ship."

The two separated, disappearing into the brush on either side of the enemy's path.

No more than twenty seconds later the first of the enemy appeared.

In an instant he was down, a smoking hole in his arm.

The enemy's advance came to a sudden halt and neither Derek's nor Sandor's environmental sensors showed any movement coming from where the enemy had stopped.

A cry of pain suddenly ripped through Sandor's helmet mic.

"Get out! I'm hit!" Wildstar's voice, filled with a panic Sandor had never heard from him before, started to get sluggish.

"_His suit's breached."_ Sandor leapt up from his hiding place, disregarding the danger to himself and plowed through the undergrowth towards the quickly fading Wildstar.

* * *

"_They are all so young… well, most of them are,"_ Starsha thought as she reviewed the many images she had captured during the brief moments that the Eratite ship core had been active.

"_So many faces… men, women… They've summoned the younger generation to venture out into the unknown…" _The face of Captain Avatar appeared before her, _"But they've not left them without guidance I see."_ She smiled softly, then looked closely at the old Captain. When she say his eyes, her smile brightened, _"Ah… I see… they are truly in good hands."_

"My Queen?" the light voice of Adrianna floated through the air, "Has something happened?" the Jeshurunian asked from across the room.

"No, nothing like that." Starsha replied, "I'm just looked at the images I was able to get while the Ahavaiscandar* link was open." She looked over at Adrianna. The sentient plant's foliage was just as green as it always was, and it rustled when she spoke.

"Interesting so far?" asked Adrianna.

"Quite." The young queen replied, "It seems that Yahweh Himself has chosen those who will make the journey to us. There are many among them who have His Light in them."

"Then all will be well, my Queen. They will come in time. I am sure of it." Adrianna thought for a moment, "Where are they now?"

"They…" Starsha checked the tracking system that she and Naomi Talan had created for the Eratite ship core, "They have reached…" her eyes widened when she saw it, "They have named it Ee Katan Zakar…"

"But what is it in memory of?" Adrianna asked. "Certainly there is not much in the recent past the Gamilon civilization would wish to remember."

"Perhaps not…" Starsha said thoughtfully, "Nothing pleasant in any case…"

There was silence in the room for a long moment while Starsha's mind ran through the possible reasons why there would be a memorial created.

The options were few… and strange.

"Adrianna," Starsha said as she rose from her seat. "I will be down by the docks; please, let me know if anything happens to the Eratite ship."

"Of course." Adrianna rustled back.

* * *

Breezes floated on the wind and seagulls called down from their perches in the blue sky. The clouds were white and wispy and ocean waves lapped at her feet while sea creatures crept out of their shells and rode the rolling tide in and out and back again. The scene was the mirror of peace. It felt strange to be in such a calm setting knowing what was unfolding a galaxy away.

Starsha eased her bare feet into the cool water and gazed upward, hardly noticing that the waves were getting her dress wet. Such things didn't really matter much anymore anyway, at least, not for a while yet – not until the Eratites arrived.

Suddenly, something settled on her foot and, thinking it was seaweed, she reached down to brush it away. But instead of wiry strands of ocean plant, her fingers caught in…

"_Hair?"_ she thought, confused. She looked down immediately to find the most unexpected thing on her entire world. There, floating on the Sea of Iscandar was a stranger floating face-up in the sea. He looked barely alive.

Starsha quickly felt the man's neck for injuries. Finding none immediately apparent, she dragged him out of the salt water and onto the grass six feet back from the shore line. He had a high fever and his lips were chapped and badly cracked. He looked like he hadn't had any water in days.

The man stirred. Starsha jumped back a full six inches, startled. She slowly went back to where she'd been and laid a cool hand on the man's burning forehead.

The stranger struggled to open his eyes and finally they cracked open a little.

"What…?" he rasped, barely able to form the word with his tortured lips and swelling tongue.

Starsha looked at the man strangely. He didn't speak anything close to her own language.

"Where… am… I…?" the stranger tried again.

Starsha listened closely to the man's words, then whispered to herself, "Ma kore…?*"

* * *

He felt like he was about to die. His whole body ached - more than that, it screamed in agony at every move he made. The only relief he could find in this moment was the woman he had just opened his eyes to see.

Her face was beautiful. Blonde, orange hair fell in cascades down her shoulders, past her waist. Hazel eyes looked at him with curious concern.

Then she spoke.

Her voice was wonderful, like a breath of soft wind. He couldn't quite make it out what she was saying.

He squinted at her as his vision became hazy, "I don't… I don't understand…" He suddenly felt horrible.

"Ma shmekh?*" the woman asked.

"I – I don't…" he couldn't understand her words.

The woman took a moment, seeming to realize that he didn't understand.

She took a breath, looked up at the sky for a second, then looked back down at him and said, "Shmi… Starsha.*" She pointed to herself. Then she pointed to him and repeated, "Ma shmekh?"

"Ah…" he began to reply, but at that moment his brain registered the wounds that he had suffered at the hands of his merciless captures and the pain started to overwhelmed him. Then he remembered something and tried to speak again, but his energy was spent and all he managed was a breath and a look back towards the Sea. Then he passed out.

* * *

Starsha immediately summoned her mechanized help – the only help still available to her were the robotic servants used for menial house-keeping tasks. They weren't very good at many things, but they _were_ capable of getting this man back to the palace without injuring him further.

A few minutes later, when the Mahtehkhetim* were in sight she happened to glance over her shoulder back at the ocean and saw, to her dismay, another man, this one looking worse than the one before her. The second man looked like he'd been starved while the first one, Starsha now realized had been beaten.

"_Who would do this?"_ she thought, tears welling up in her eyes. Then she saw the ship debris that was floating toward her along with the second man and a sickening sensation curdled her gut. The design and architecture… no… it was… Gamilon.

He heart sank.

"_How low will you stoop, great leader of men?"_ she turned her face upwards to the planet floating over the horizon. _"How far will you go to stop this strange ship – to take the only route you perceive to rescue your people? How long will you wait to ask for help? Because you cannot save your world by yourself, Desslok… no matter how hard you try…"_ a single tear ran down her cheek, leaving in its wake a trail of memories, memories of a young man who had been willing to risk his own life to rescue her and her people, a young man who had fallen into bitter darkness.

The Mahtehkhetim arrived and Starsha ordered them out into the water to retrieve the second stranger first. Then, they took both crash survivors back to the palace to see to their wounds.

* * *

"Get him to Dr. Sane now!" The science officer ordered as he managed to lay the unconscious Wildstar on a gurney, his arm right arm still secured to his waist.

"But your arm –" one of the attending nurses started to protest.

"It can wait." Sandor interrupted her, "Take him!"

The nurse didn't say anything else. She slipped the EV suit helmet off of Wildstar and replaced it with an oxygen mask.

The emergency response team rushed Wildstar to Dr. Sane who took one look at the young man and said, "Get me the snake-bite kit."

"He was bitten by a snake?" one of the group asked.

"No –" the doctor replied, "But he _was_ poisoned by something and that's the best thing I have on hand."

One of the nurses immediately handed the doctor what he'd asked for.

The short physician broke open the kit and immediately began fumbling through it, looking for something specific. Several things dropped to the floor, but Sane ignored them, focusing intently on the objects in that one little box.

"Doctor, he's destabilizing!" one of the nurses said, her voice full of fear.

"So re-stabilize him." Sane ordered.

The team worked to get Wildstar's condition under control once again, but it was clear they were out of their league with whatever had gotten into the young man's system.

"We can't!" the lead nurse said, panicking. "He – he's going to – "

"Ah ha!" Sane suddenly exclaimed and injected something into Wildstar's neck.

Suddenly there was complete silence in the room, except for the rasping of oxygen.

* * *

"Has the scout group reached the Zakkar*?" Colonel Gantz asked.

"They have, Sir." Replied the communications officer.

"And what did they find?"

"The place, though opened, was minimally disturbed."

"And the time-delvers – have they seen anything of concern?" Gantz probed.

"They…" the officer paused to read the synopsis he'd received only moments ago. "They say that there was one Eratite who seemed to be familiar with some of the objects and symbols. He was the one who opened the door."

"Do they know anything else about him?" Gantz's eyes narrowed.

"He is older than the rest of the group he took with him." The comm officer read farther into the report, "And he went…" he stopped reading and swallowed hard before continuing, "he went into… the room."

"He _what_?!" Gantz bellowed.

"He – he went into the room." The comm officer repeated, then stuttered, "But – but he didn't really do anything. I don't think – yes – they said he…" the man looked ahead in the report and swallowed hard again, "They said he took pictures of the altar and everything in the room, but then he left."

Gantz breathed out some of his anger, then he saw a look of horror fall over the comm officer's face. "What happened?" he demanded,

"He didn't just leave…" the officer was shaking now, "He… _found_ something there… something the excavation team has been looking for for years, but not there – not at Zakkar."

"Tell them to find that man and retrieve what he took. I don't care what you have to do, but make sure no one else finds out about this."

"Yes, Sir." The com officer nodded, relieved to be out of the line of fire for now.

* * *

Sandor waited quietly outside the operating theatre, hoping and praying that Derek made it through.

The science officer looked down and would have laughed had the circumstances been less dire. He'd forgotten to change out of his EV suit.

He slowly rose from his chair and started to leave for the EV locker, then thought better of it. Less one arm, he would never be able to change by himself. He sighed and sat back down. When he did, he heard a small clinking sound.

He frowned in confusion, then moved again.

The sound met his ears again – the sound of metal against metal.

But he didn't have any metal. Then he remembered the item he'd picked up in the cavern. He reached down into his pocket with his good hand and pulled the thing out.

He wasn't sure what he had expected to see, but it wasn't the sight that met his eyes.

Laying there, in his still-gloved hand, was a fine gold chain and hung on that chain was a small golden cross etched in Hebrew.

He squinted at the thing, trying to make out the inscription. After what seemed like an hour he finally deciphered most of it.

"A poem…?" he wondered aloud, then proceeded to read.

"Inside the heart of stone

There lies a great divide.

A man who once was whole

Has found his hope has died.

May he find the life I have

And from the one Physician great,

Be given hope

And learn to trust instead of hate."

Sandor stopped, puzzled by the words. He rubbed the cross with his thumb, hoping to make it shine a bit more as it had some dirt on it from the cavern.

As he polished the cross, a piece of dirt came off that revealed the name of the one who had written these heartfelt words.

Sandor looked at the inscription hard, and finally was able to attempt the name.

"Ta…" he squinted at the next part, "lon…" he rubbed the surface again and finished reading the name, "ka."

* * *

**Episode 11 Notes:**

* Ee Katan Zakkar – literally a "Memorial Island," or "Island of Remembrance"*  
* Megen – shield  
* Ma kore – What's going on?  
* Ma shmekh – What's your name?  
* Shmi Starsha – My name is Starsha  
* Mahtehkhetim – "the metals" droids that the Iscandarians used to use for household chores  
* Ahavaiscandar – Iscandite/Iscandarium; literally – "the love of Iscandar"  
* Zakkar - memorial


	14. Episode 12: The Gravity of the Situation

**Episode 12: The Gravity of the Situation**

"He's stabilizing." One of the attending nurses sighed in relief, along with the rest of the medical crew. "What did you give him?" he asked Dr. Sane.

The pudgy doctor smirked in triumph. "Just a little something I cooked up back on Earth for severe cases of poisoning – Jupiter's atmosphere wasn't quite what I had in mind, but it was a better test than I could have come up with." With that Sane turned around, opened a cabinet and took a swig from a bottle of sake he had stashed there.

The team just stared at the man.

The doctor took another drink, then turned and, oblivious to the strange looks he was getting, made a shooing motion with his hand, "Go on, make sure he's okay to wait in recovery by himself."

"Oh – yes – of course, Dr. Sane." Replied the head nurse. Then the team began their work, checking and rechecking the still unconscious Wildstar to be sure that he wouldn't relapse into the dangerous state he'd been in.

"You'll have to check the toxin levels in his blood from time to time, just to make sure it keeps going down." Sane advised as the nurses took Derek to another room.

As soon as the door to the operating room closed, the doctor held up his bottle of sake and stared into the rolling liquid, the memories of hundreds of poison victims from the past less lucky than Wildstar emerging without mercy.

* * *

"He'll live." Sandor said, stepping through the Captain's quarters' door and closing it behind him.

Avatar nodded, "Good…" he turned around to look at the other man, "Have the scout parties left, or are they still out there?"

"As far as we know they've gone back to wherever their base is."

"So we can assume that if they don't know about us by now that they will soon."

Sandor nodded, "A fair estimate, Captain."

"So what happened out there?" Avatar asked, taking a seat in his captain's chair.

"We were in the middle of looking through what we thought was a tomb when they came. We managed to get the group halfway back to the ship without incident, but then Wildstar and I had to try to buy the rest of the party time. He would have stayed by himself, but I wouldn't let him."

"Is that how that happened?" Avatar pointed to Sandor's still-slung arm.

"Oh this," Sandor looked down at the useless appendage, "No, that was… something else. I need to get Dr. Sane to help me out with it once he sobers up a little."

"He has everything he needs onboard?" asked the captain.

"I made sure he did, in case of something like this."

"Good." The captain smiled thinly, "I knew I picked you for this job for a reason."

Sandor laughed sharply, "Yes, I suppose so." He looked past the captain and out into Jupiter's atmosphere, swirling around outside. "But now we have another problem. Our gunnery chief is down, and the enemy will be coming soon. If we don't find a way to leave before they get here, we'll have more trouble than any of us want this early in our trip."

"You have any ideas, Sandor?" asked Avatar.

"Not at the moment, but hopefully once I get my hands on the data we've collected while we've been waiting on this rock. Have the repair teams finished with the critical repairs?"

"They'll be done within the hour." Replied the captain.

Sandor nodded, "That gives us something to work with then. At least we won't be badly damaged when we try to get out of this heavy gravity."

The captain nodded slowly and looked down at the deck plating.

All was quiet between the two men for some time, the captain staring at the floor and the XO gazing out into the strange world's atmosphere.

Finally the captain said, "What's on your mind, Sandor?"

"That obvious?" he asked.

The captain smiled and looked up, "It is."

Sandor took a breath, then sighed, "While we were inside that place – it isn't a tomb, by the way – I found something… odd."

"Something from the Gamilons?" Avatar asked, curious.

"I don't know." Sandor replied, "I can't tell by the look of it, and it's in an Earth language – at least, a form of one." He reached into his uniform pocket and pulled out the little cross. He held it out for the captain to see. "Here." He handed Avatar the piece of jewelry.

The captain took it, holding it carefully in his big hands. He peered at the thing, turning it over and over, then he looked at the same inscription that Sandor had.

"Hebrew?" the captain asked.

"Yes."

"I've seen enough of Homer's tutorial notes to recognize the characters, but beats me if I can read them." He looked back at his XO. "What does it say?"

"It's a poem." Sandor replied, "Something about someone this woman knew. It seems that she hoped for a change of heart in someone she considered very close to her."

"'She'?" Avatar asked.

"Yes," Sandor replied, seeming more animated now than he had been before, "There was a name written after the poem. 'Talonka.'"

"Strange name." Avatar thought aloud,

"Yes, I thought so too, but why would a cross of all things be hidden away in a place like this? A memorial cavern speaking of something we can't even begin to know right now?"

"So it's a memorial?"

"And an odd one at that, Sir. There was an altar raised in the middle of one of the rooms. It seemed to be a focal point of some kind. I recorded everything I could about the place and so did everyone else before we were unceremoniously forced to flee for our lives."

"Once this crisis is over take whatever time you need to figure out what you found here."

"Oh, I will, Captain. This is quite a find to say the least."

Avatar nodded, amused at the science officer's characteristic curiosity. _"Still like the young man I met so many years ago, thrilled by the smallest piece of information."_ He turned the conversation back to present problem, "Go and figure out a way off this rock."

"Yes, Sir." He started to salute, but he'd forgotten his useless arm, "Sorry, Sir. I'll get this seen to."

"And make sure the good doctor is sober enough to be ready for any more injuries that come his way." Avatar said, then thought, _"Though I hope we've seen the worst of it already."_

* * *

Several hours later, Sandor, the captain, and all the available chief officers were gathered in the operations room to discuss what Sandor had conjured up after his research.

"We'll have to cut the power to any unnecessary systems, but I think we can do it." Sandor was saying to them all. "This 'floating continent' is in orbit around Jupiter, but we know it isn't traveling at escape velocity, so we have at least some idea of what kind of speed we'll have to achieve to get out of here." He paused, "And we all know that our regular engine output isn't going to do it. That's why we were sucked into the gravity field to begin with. In order to boost our engines we'll have to increase the power we send to them."

"But can she handle that kind of power surge?" Orion put in, "This is an untested engine, lad. We don't know how she'll respond to something like this."

"True." Sandor acknowledged, "But the only other alternative is to stay here for who knows how long. It's a valid concern, but we haven't the time to do more thorough testing."

Orion sighed, "Aye. You're right, but I'll need my team prepared for problems. Who knows what'll happen when that extra punch hits."

"You'll have some time to brief your team on emergency preparations before we go." Sandor replied, "Any other concerns we need to address?"

"Where's Wildstar?" Dash piped up, "Has he woken up yet?"

"No," Sandor replied, "He's still unconscious in the medical bay, but I'm sure Dr. Sane is doing everything he can for him right now. The best thing we can do is get out of here."

Dash nodded, accepting the subtle hint to let the subject die.

"Let's go then. Launch time is in two hours. Do you think you'll have your team ready by then, Orion?"

"Aye, we'll be ready." The old engineer nodded.

* * *

"It's been a while since that group returned to the ship, Colonel." The tactical officer said, feeling a bit restless with nothing to do but watch and wait for the Eratites to make a move. "They're not doing anything at all – at least nothing we can see from here."

"I can see that." Gantz replied through clenched teeth, "Please do not speak unless you have something useful to say."

"A – apologies, Colonel." The officer replied, then made sure he was as quiet as possible, not wanting to further aggravate the man who seemed more antsy than the rest of them put together.

The officer continued to stare at his station monitors, not really expecting anything to show up, but suddenly he shot up in his seat and exclaimed, "They're moving! Colonel, they're finally moving!"

"Where are they going?" Gantz snapped back.

"They're flying with Ee Katan Zakkar, or, trying to. They're too slow right now and it's getting ahead of them… but they're speeding up slowly. They should reach the Zakkar's speed in…" he quickly calculated the time, "fifteen minutes." Then the officer looked down at the data scrolling across his station, "And they'll be right under us in five minutes."

"Ready all guns." Gantz ordered, "We'll shoot them down now while they're stuck in this planet's gravity. Maybe we'll finally be able to report a victory."

* * *

"Engine output at eighty-five percent." Orion relayed to the bridge. "We should be at a hundred in a few minutes."

"Thank you, Orion." Sandor replied through the comm. "Any problems so far?"

"Nothing as far as we can tell." Replied the engineer. "Just let us know before you send that extra down here."

"Will do." The XO replied.

On the bridge everyone was anxious to be rid of this strange place – the "floating continent" as Sandor had just dubbed it in their earlier briefing – was one of the oddest things they had seen thus far in their brief trek.

How could such a thing exist – here, in the atmosphere of Jupiter, a fully functioning island whose plants had been re-engineered to live in this caustic habitat. It was just too strange for many of the crew to stomach and they were all glad that they could be getting out of here within the hour.

Everything was going well until suddenly Nova's voice broken the moment.

"Enemy ships coming in above our position!" she stared at the radar in dismay, "They appear, then disappear again. This atmosphere is making the instruments malfunction." She checked other instruments to confirm or deny what the radar was telling her. "They're there for sure, Captain," she finally announced, "And their weapons are fully charged."

"Venture, get ready for evasive maneuvers." Ordered the captain. "Just keep us roughly in line with that floating continent."

"Aye, Sir." The helmsman replied, a grim determination settling over him.

* * *

"Prepare to fire all guns at the Eratite ship." Gantz ordered.

"Yes, Sir." The gunnery chief replied and relayed the order to prepare for firing.

"Enemy ship will be within range in ten seconds." Tactical said.

"Begin the countdown at ten seconds then." Gantz ordered. "When the countdown reaches zero, fire at will."

"Aye, Colonel." Gunnery replied.

The countdown ground slowly down, seeming to pause for seconds after every number, but finally the count reached one second, then the much anticipated zero.

"All guns, fire at will." The gunnery chief ordered. "I repeat, fire at will."

"Colonel they're moving away from Zakkar!" Tactical suddenly said, "They're still within range, but just barely."

"I don't care!" Gantz exploded, "Just shoot them down! I want them gone _now_!"

* * *

"Enemy fire to port." Said Nova as she watched the radar and her other instruments carefully, knowing that if she missed any of the radar's intermittent signals that she could be sentencing them all to a quick death and an unhappy burial on Jupiter.

"_Help me,"_ she prayed, _"Help me do this right."_

"More fire, still to port, but several megameters closer. They're honing in on us."

"Engine output at one hundred percent," Orion's voice came from the engine room.

"Lovely timing." Dash put in.

"Captain?" Sandor looked to Avatar for approval to go ahead with the energy boost."

"Do it." Avatar nodded.

* * *

"We're preparing the prime weapon to fire, Colonel Gantz. It will be ready in thirty seconds."

"Haven't we gotten that charge time down to something more manageable? Anything can happen in thirty seconds. " Gantz scowled.

"Yes, Sir, we're still working on it." Gunnery replied sheepishly, "It… was something else that seems to have met with sabotage recently."

"Just get it charged."

"Aye, Sir."

* * *

"Twenty seconds until that energy comes through, Orion." Sandor told the engineer.

"We'll be ready." Replied Orion.

Sandor did some quick adjustments, carefully shunting the additional power into the right channels, praying that none of the conduits would overload before the energy reached the main engine.

Fifteen seconds later he announced to the engine room, "In five seconds, it's all yours." Sandor looked at the ship's clock and counted down from five, then gave the extra energy its final push.

For half a second nothing happened.

* * *

"Opening the main firing gate." The Gamilon gunnery chief announced, then a few seconds later he ordered, "Fire!"

* * *

The _Argo _shot forward as though she were a toy being jerked through the water by an eager child. The ship exceeded any speed records she'd set in test runs by thirty percent.

"Venture, point us out of here." Avatar ordered.

Mark nodded and without a word pointed the ship upward, away from the floating continent and out of the orbit of Jupiter.

"Captain, a massive energy surge just came from what looks like the enemy flagship." Nova said, "It looks like they fired a weapon of some kind – and by the energy signature they're using something a lot like the wave motion technology that Starsha gave us."

Sandor turned to look at the captain, his face grim.

"Enemy fighters coming up from the floating continent." Nova added, "Several hundred of them."

"Captain, we can send out the Black Tigers –" Dash was interrupted by the Captain.

"We're too close to Jupiter's gravity, they'd be sucked back in in an instant with no hope of getting back out." He looked at Sandor, whose sober face was still turned towards him.

For a moment there was silence, then the captain knew what they had to do. "Arm the prime weapon." He said, voice low, "Arm the Wave Motion Gun."

* * *

"Doctor… Sane…" Derek mumbled, feeling like a load of bricks had just fallen on his chest. "What's going on?"

"Ah, he's awake." The doctor said, "We're just getting off of Jupiter, Wildstar."

"Leaving? How long have I been out?" he asked, more alert after hearing that.

"Few hours." Sane replied, "Didn't expect you awake this soon, not with that nasty poison gas you got yourself into. It's not a good idea to get your suit breached when you're in something like that, you know."

"Yeah, yeah I know." Derek replied, annoyed. "Get me out of here," he started to disconnect the series of IV's that the nurses had hooked up.

"Don't do that, Wildstar, you need your rest. Now calm down and relax for a while."

Suddenly the ship-wide alarms began to go off and an announcement came over the com system.

"Prepare for prime weapon firing. Everyone find a secure location. The countdown will begin in one minute."

"I've got to get to the bridge!" Derek exclaimed, whatever haze was left over from the poison now gone from his brain. "They're not firing that thing without me."

"Wildstar, wait! Wildstar!" Sane ran after the young man who was pulling on his uniform even as he ran haltingly out of the medical bay and into the ship halls, going as fast as he could towards the bridge.

* * *

"Opening targeting scope," Dash announced as he sat in the gunnery chief's chair and gripped the trigger of the prime weapon.

Only twenty seconds remained until the first firing of the Wave Motion Gun.

"All targets within the line of fire, Captain." Nova said.

Just then the elevator to the bridge hissed open and in barreled Wildstar out of breath, his shirt tails hanging out and one boot zipped half-way up. He walked – albeit far from straight – towards the gunnery chief's chair.

For a second the crew was too stunned to say anything, then Sandor started chuckling and said, "Dash, I think the man wants his seat back."

Dash gave a disappointed sigh and stood up and headed back to his regular post, yielding the position to his superior officer.

"You think you can shoot this thing?" Venture whispered to Derek from the next seat over, "You look like you just got in a fight with a biker gang and lost."

"Thanks a lot, Mark." Derek replied, "I'll have you know that I feel just fine," a twinge ran through his head – the onset of a headache from getting up too fast and booking it up here, "Mostly fine."

"Just don't blow up the wrong target, okay Wildstar."

"Whatever you say."

"Ten seconds to firing." Nova said, and the countdown began over the ship-wide com.

* * *

"Arm it again, you imbeciles! We have to shoot them down before they get away!" Gantz ordered, "And try to cut down the charging time!"

"Yes, Sir." Came the replies.

"We have ten seconds on the clock now, Colonel."

"Better." He growled, furious at this turn of events. "Begin the countdown."

* * *

"Five seconds to firing." The computer's voice announced to all of _Argo_'s crew as they waited silently.

"Four."

Derek's hands were sweating and he realized that he'd forgotten to put his gloves back on. _"Oh well,"_ he thought, _"Doesn't matter now."_

"Three. Two. One."

Derek took a deep breath, and then squeezed the trigger.


	15. Episode 13: A Message for the Living

**Episode 13: A Message for the Living**

"_Miezella…" The voice drifted on the misty air, "Miezella Celestella…" It came again._

_Celestella looked around, squinting her eyes as she looked fruitlessly this way and that, trying to find whoever was calling her name._

"_You are my loyal servant, are you not?" the voice asked, now seeming more familiar somehow._

"_Who are you?" Miezella replied, reluctant to make a commitment to someone she could neither see nor identify by voice._

"_Oh, Celestella… don't you know me?" Suddenly the voice was right behind her and she whirled to face it._

"_Malha!" she exclaimed._

Celestella shot up in bed, sweat rolling off of her as she gasped for breath, feeling like she'd just run a marathon.

"_What in all the worlds was_ that_?"_ she thought, getting up.

She didn't feel sleepy anymore – not after _that_. She'd had dreams – visions – before, but never anything from frightful as this. Somehow fear had just been force-fed into her soul.

The face she'd seen was the Malha's, but not the voice, at least, Celestella didn't think it was hers. She'd never heard the Malha speak so gutturally. But why would she dream of the Malha now of all times? The Guardiana followers' leader had been missing for months now – her ship and crew with her.

Miezella brewed herself a pot of strong tea. She poured herself a cup and sat down by the window.

There was little starlight to be seen now that Belarus had been submerged beneath Gamilon's surface. Some artificial lights had been hung from the planet's crust far above them, but for the most part, all was dark above. Below however, there was a plethora of city lights.

Belarus was no dull place, even after its move. Halfway through the night it was still going strong.

"Miezella?"

The soft voice made Celestella jump and almost spill her tea.

"Mirenel!" She exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"The dream." Mirenel replied quietly, "You had it too… didn't you…?"

There was a moment of silence before Miezella replied, "I did."

"We have to find out what she wanted." Mirenel said, "You know we do."

"I know." Replied Celestella, "But I also know that the Leader would have our necks if he found out we were still dealing with the shéds."

"Yes, sister, but we _must_ this time. Linke's eyes pleaded with Celestella to listen. "Our work beneath the city is still intact. Belarus' move didn't unsettle the prison. We can retreat there to do it."

Celestella slowly set down her tea. She didn't answer for a long time, just stared out at the city lights below. Then finally she said, "Very well. Stay here." She stood, "I'll be ready as soon as I'm dressed."

Several minutes later Celestella and Mirenel left for the palace's not-so-savory basement. Once a place for the enemies of the crown, it now housed a device that would allow Celestella and Mirenel to interact more easily with the world of the shédiim.

As quietly as they could, they whisked through the levels of the palace – careful to remain unseen as they went. Unwanted questions now could lead to problems they didn't need to deal with at the present time.

Thankfully the way was clear. The halls – as was the usual now that Belarus was underground – were lit with yellow-orange lights all the way down to the sublevel entrance.

Once past that door, the light changes from warm orange to cold blue.

They descended into a deepening darkness, the blue light ebbing the farther down they went.

When they reached the bottom of their descent, the light changed again. Instead of light from either side of them, low green light emanated from around the edges of the room they now found themselves on. They closed the door to the upper world and locked it to ensure that they would not be disturbed.

In the center of the dark room lay the device they had come to use.

They approached the thing with a strange reverence.

Mirenel slowly climbed into it.

Miezella waited until her sister was settled, then placed her hands on either side of Mirenel's head and both women began an unearthly chant.

For several moments they did this, then both were suddenly silenced, and Mirenel began to speak, but it was not Mirenel's voice that emanated from her lips.

"You've finally come." It said, "You did well to heed your night-visions. There is much we have to do. But time is going by quickly and we must act soon if we are to do as we must to stop this Eratite ship from ever reaching Iscandar."

* * *

The room was filled with a heavy darkness, so thick that the room's only occupant felt, for the thousandth time in the past months, that he was being smothered by it.

So much had happened since that fateful coronation day. He'd lost his best – and only – friend; he'd lost the woman who had been a mentor to him in place of a mother since he was ten. He had discovered his own brother's treacherous plan, and then he'd sanctioned it.

The Leader looked down at the pitch black floor, unable to really see it. The only sounds were his own breathing, and the hum of the palace air system.

Today he had received numerous reports from various fleets that had been sent out. A report from General Lysis detailed the work on the planet the Eratites called "Pluto." The base seemed ready for the eventual arrival of the Eratite ship. Yes, Gantz was on duty in the Eratites' solar system, but the name had limited experience with something like this. So the Leader had prepared for the eventuality of his failure.

General Lysis was, even now, headed to the Pluto base to run a final check on it, and there he would stay until the strange battleship was either turned back or destroyed.

The Leader looked up, breathing deeply. Then he saw the one sight that could still lift his spirits these days. There, through one of the holes of Gamilon's crust, he could see Iscandar floating as it always had just beyond Gamilon's atmosphere.

He could almost see the face of Queen Starsha looking back at him through the darkness.

He solely stood and stepped closer to the window, his eyes still turned upwards.

All of a sudden, something caught his eye. A faint glow reflected in the window.

The Leader stopped and let his gaze shift to the strange glow.

It was coming from somewhere across the room.

His curiosity piqued, he turned to find the source of this glow. He scanned the other side of the room, looking from one end to the other.

Then he saw it, coming from underneath a very old, very weathered book he had found weeks ago but hadn't had the time to look at yet.

He slowly walked over to the ancient thing, thinking that maybe someone had planted something inside the book.

He carefully picked up the book.

The glow became a bit brighter, and he realized that it wasn't the book causing the light, it was something else.

There, lying on the table was something he'd forgotten about for what seemed like an eternity. The Iscandarian Interface.

In that moment he realized something he'd forgotten since the dark presence began taunting him. He had been forbidden to summon Masterson, but no one else.

* * *

He reached for the interface, his hand starting to shake. He chided himself, unsure of why he was anxious to even touch the device.

His last conversation with the Iscandari Queen had been some time ago. Any recent contact with her had been through his staff. He hadn't actually seen her face in a long time, but it was indelibly etched in his memory none the less.

He withdrew his hand and took off the glove that covered it, then he slipped the interface onto his marked left hand and waited.

* * *

"Mistress, you have a call." Adrianna said, waking Starsha from a dead sleep.

"Who would be calling now? And why hasn't the comm system notified me?" asked the queen groggily.

"It isn't coming in on the main comm system, Mistress." Adrianna replied. "It's coming through the Interface network."

"But who…?" Starsha began, puzzled. _"Who has an Interface and would use one now? I haven't spoken to anyone using one of those since…"_ then she realized who was on the other end of the line.

"Adrianna, I'll accept the call, but I will come as soon as I'm presentable." She ran her fingers through her hair, noting the tangles.

"Of course." The Jeshurunian replied.

Starsha flew out of bed and quickly dressed and brushed out her hair. Then she slipped her interface onto her hand and accepted the call.

The face of Leader Desslok of Gamilon appeared before her. His green eyes were still just as deep and piercing as she remembered them.

"Ah, Queen Starsha," said the Leader, "I was beginning to wonder if you would answer."

"Desslok." She nodded in greeting, "It is the middle of the night, after all, and I have… more responsibility than I used to."

"You are still as lovely as I remember." The Leader said, catching Starsha off guard.

There was a long silence between the two as Starsha tried to find an appropriate response to such a statement.

Finding none, she simply addressed the very reason they hadn't spoken recently.

"Slaughtering the Eratites is not the way, Desslok." She said soberly. "Perhaps they would be willing to help your people if you simply asked them."

"Starsha…" the Leader sighed, "We cannot depend on anyone other than ourselves now."

"But you can…" Starsha replied softly, "Yahweh – Adonai… He is ready and willing to help you – to help us all in this time of great sadness and need…"

"But Adonai has saved no one since this ordeal began. He has watched millions die and done nothing to assuage the death and destruction." He looked away, "How can you tell me that He would intervene now when He hasn't in the past."

"Oh Desslok… He _has_ intervened… in ways that you cannot see."

"Mistress! Mistress!" Adrianna interrupted, "You're needed –"

Starsha held up a hand just outside the sphere of Desslok's sight, stopping the Jeshurunian mid-sentence. She looked sadly at the Leader, knowing that her time was up for now. "I must go… Good night, Desslok."

With that, she severed the link.

Sighing heavily, she turned to Adrianna. "The strangers?" she asked her friend.

"Indeed. One of them is screaming in his sleep. He won't stop, and he won't wake up." The Jeshurunian sounded a concerned. "Please come. Perhaps you can get through to him."

Starsha nodded, immediately heading out the door for the strangers' rooms, taking Adrianna with her.

"Which one?" she asked.

"The one you first found, Mistress." Answered Adrianna. "He's in this room." She rustled the leaves on the right side of her plant body.

The sounds of distress melted through the door, their volume skyrocketing when Starsha opened the portal.

The screaming was horrific, the man was clearly asleep, suffering nothing physically, but he still uttered terrible sounds – like he was being tortured.

Starsha set Adrianna down on a nearby table and carefully approached the stranger. He was throwing his arms out against some imagined assailant, or maybe struggling against bonds.

Starsha came closer, avoiding the man's hands and arms. She looked for an opening and finally found one.

She slipped behind the man's bed and placed cool hands on either side of his face. She waited for a reaction.

The man seemed to fight harder than ever now and started batting at Starsha's hands.

The Mahtehkhetim who had been attending the man started to come restrain him.

"No." Starsha ordered, "Not yet." She leaned over and began to sing softly,

"O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

Throughout the song, the man's struggling began to subside until it finally ceased. He never woke through the entire thing. His eyes, once rolling crazily beneath their lids, were now moving in normal sleep rhythm and his heavy breathing slowed.

Whatever nightmares had haunted the man were now gone.

* * *

The Leader sat in silence, his sanctuary now dark once more, the light from the Interface having gone out the instant Starsha ended their conversation.

What could have been so important that she would have gone so suddenly?

Just then the door to his chambers chimed, indicating that someone requested entrance at this late hour.

"Mintra'el, who is it?" he asked his A.I.

"It appears to be Advisor Celestella, Sir." The artificial intelligence replied, "She seems concerned about something."

"Let her in." the Leader sighed, but leave the lights off.

With that, the Leader stood and faced the window, arms crossed, eyes turned towards Iscandar.

"Leader," Celestella greeted as she swept into the room."

"Yes, Celestella?" Desslok said, not even turning to look at the woman. "What leads you to disturb my solitude?"

The cold reception did not even slow the woman.

"Sire, there is something that requires immediate action. It has come to my attention that the Eratite ship may be armed with much greater firepower than we first realized."

"And?" Desslok replied curtly.

"And they must be stopped immediately. We cannot let them rampage through the galaxy killing our people at will! They've already slaughtered the entire advance fleet sent to destroy them, and I have just received word that they are now bearing down on the base at Ee Katan Zakkar. They've fired some sort of prime weapon, constructed with the same Wave Motion technology that our own weapons are based on, though this application is – is – on such an enormous scale that –"

Desslok raised a hand, silencing the babbling woman. "Get to the point, Celestella."

"Sir, I recommend that you let my sister and I… contact some old friends of ours to infiltrate the Eratite ship and destroy them from within, and at the same time, take the designs for this new weapon they've somehow constructed so that we too may use it."

Desslok was silent for a long moment. He could hear Celestella fidgeting behind him, waiting for his response.

Finally he said, "Very well. You may do so. But take care not to get yourself into something you cannot get out of."

"Yes, Leader, of course. We will take the utmost precautions. As will our… friends." She replied.

The Leader's eyes narrowed as he heard a bit too much enthusiasm in her voice. She was up to something, but he had yet to figure out what it was. Until he knew, he would let her do what she wished. Perhaps she would take a misstep that might tell him what she was really doing.

"You may go." Desslok said, dismissing her.

* * *

"Get us out of here!" Gantz screamed as the unbelievable energy surge barreled towards the ship and its fleet. The power was unthinkable. That one Eratite ship would have something like this… How was it possible?

"_Only two worlds harbor such power – Gamilon, and… Iscandar."_ Thought Gantz as he watched the energy charge closer and closer to them. Seconds seemed to slow into minutes and he thought that this might be the last thing he saw in this universe.

Two seconds later Gantz's ship vanished into an uncalculated warp.

* * *

Wildstar tried to watch the energy surge as it sped towards the enemy fleet and the base on the floating continent, but the longer he looked, the harder it was to look. The light from the energy was so bright it made his eyes burn. He clamped them shut against the brilliant flash.

In a moment it was all over.

Derek slowly opened his eyes, "Wha…? Wait, what happened to the floating continent?" he pointed out the viewport at where the strange thing once was.

There was silence on the bridge when they all realized the same thing, but only Sandor had the stomach to say it.

"We used too much power." He said quietly. "We only intended to destroy the enemy flagship and perhaps the base on that floating island, but instead we've obliterated the entire thing…" he turned to look at the Captain, "We've learned a grave lesson here. Let us make sure we don't repeat it."

The entire bridge crew nodded grimly at this. Then Wildstar piped up again, "And that monument is gone now too, Sandor. How will you figure out exactly what it was now?"

"I have the information we gathered while we were there." Replied the XO. "It isn't everything I had hoped to get, but it will have to suffice. Hopefully with that I can piece together the information I've missed."

"Wildstar, return to sick bay." The Captain ordered, "You look like you've just gotten off a bad carnival ride."

"Yeah – yeah, I think I'll get back now." Derek replied, suddenly feeling like he might give back every meal he'd ever eaten. He got up slowly and made it through the elevator door. He was fine until he got back to Dr. Sane's office. Then he really _did_ throw up.

* * *

Sandor sat alone at his private workstation down on the third bridge. A giant screen was mounted on the wall in front of him and he had countless images and text scattered across it, trying to make sense of the strange place they'd found on that island.

He'd run the cross through a fingerprinting system and found countless prints all over it, most of them matching, but some not. Clearly the most numerous print set belonged to necklace's owner, this "Talonka," but the other prints were still a mystery to him.

Curiously enough though, her prints were not so dissimilar to _his_ fingerprints.

He was now running the object through another set of tests that would be able to uncover even the tiniest bit of living – or once-living – tissue left on the item.

He waited for several hours while the computer put the majority of its power into scanning the necklace.

He was looking at the images of the inscription on the altar when the computer notified him that its scan was complete.

He was overjoyed when a list of several different remains popped up on the screen for him to look at. Most of it was old skin, but there was also a sample of blood.

The blood intrigued him, so he decided to leave it for last. Instead, he started his investigation with the skin samples. Again, most of them matched, but two did not.

Sandor thought it safe to assume, at least for now, that the most numerous cell sampling came – again – from the owner.

Just out of curiosity, he ran one of the owner's skin samples through a geographic genetic coding test, used back on Earth to determine an individual's ethnic background. He was fairly certain that the test would return with some sort of error fairly quickly, but when it didn't, he began to feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

The strange feeling grew until, half an hour later the computer notified him that it had finished the test and that there was a viable result to display.

He took a deep breath and opened the results.

He read most of the way through them and then nearly jumped out of his chair when he came to the first line of the real results – the geo-coding.

"What?!" he exclaimed, utterly floored by the one word in the ethnic background results.


	16. Episode 14: A Stopover at Titan

**Episode 14: A Stopover at Titan**

Sandor and the Captain sat in silence in the captain's quarters, the results of the test displayed on a screen sitting on the small table they sat on either side of.

The Captain picked up the tablet and stared at it, looking through the results over and over.

When he was done, he looked up at the science officer, "This is fascinating, Sandor, but I'm afraid I don't understand why this is so serious."

"Yes, Sir, I know. I wouldn't be this concerned if it weren't for… this…" Sandor reached over and opened another set of tests. "If you'll remember, I had a research team comb the debris of that island we so unceremoniously blew away. We found numerous items of interest, including… some remains of the soldiers stationed at the island base."

The Captain looked at the set of results now on the screen he was holding. "And this is…?"

"The results of the tests on those remains." Sandor replied, "One of the many tests I ran was the same test I did on the sample from the cross we found inside the memorial. That's the test you have in front of you now." Sandor reached over again and opened both result sets side by side. "If you'll scroll down to the last section, you'll see why I brought this to you."

Avatar worked his way through both test results, stopping at the final section, looking from one test to the other. "They're the same I see…" The Captain said, "Could there have been a mistake? Perhaps the samples were contaminated somehow?"

Sandor watched the captain, a feeling of dread stuck in his throat. Finally he said, "There's no mistake, Captain." He sighed, "I ran the test a dozen times – on more than one sample from the island debris. Every time, the results were the same."

"Have you released this information to anyone else?"

"No, of course not." Sandor quickly replied. "That could start a war onboard ship. The fewer problems we have, the better, especially on a voyage like this one."

"When should we tell them?" the Captain asked, still staring at the screen in front of him.

"That… I don't know, Sir…" Sandor's eyes dropped to the table.

"There are a few people we should tell right now." The Captain said, setting down the tablet.

Sandor looked up at his friend and superior. "I agree. They'll be the most affected by this, whether or not their shipmates know."

* * *

Over the next several minutes five crew members received alerts on their private communicators, asking them to report to the captain's quarters immediately. All five went and were greeted soberly by both their captain and executive officer.

"Shamira Cohen." Sandor nodded to the member of his science team as she walked in. "Gilad Hartwick," a Black Tiger, followed Shamira in, "Dov Kramer, and Ilana Amsel," the two medical officers came in next, followed by the last crewman summoned, "Homer Glitchman."

They all saluted their captain and XO.

"So what're we in for?" Homer asked the instant the door to the captain's quarters hissed shut.

Sandor's grave expression quickly quelled the comm officer's levity.

"You are here," the captain began, then sighed and shook his head, "because there is something you five need to know."

The crewmen didn't say anything.

"I have some test results here that concern all of you." Sandor took the tablet the captain offered him.

"Do we all have a disease or something?" asked Hartwick, "I'm sure Dr. Sane could figure out –"

"It's nothing like that." Sandor interrupted. "In fact… it might have been better if it was…"

All five looked sharply at the science officer.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to wish you ill, but I think you might agree with me once you see what it is that I've called you here for.

Sandor held out the tablet for one of the five to take. Ilana reached out and took it.

The whole group gathered around her to see the screen.

Ilana went all the way back to the beginning of both tests, looking through the paragraphs of text slowly enough for everyone to see. Finally she reached the end.

There were murmurs of confusion at the results.

"I'm no doctor, and I'm certainly no scientist." Hartwick said, looking up at Sandor, "Can you tell us what all this means exactly?"

Sandor nodded, "Of course." He took a deep breath and began, "Every people group on Earth has a unique gene marker indicating where on Earth their ancestors were from. All of you have a similar genetic marker because all of you, though from different countries, are Israeli."

"Okay, so you're saying that whoever these two people are in these tests, they're from the same place?" asked Hartwick.

"Not precisely… though that _is_ true," Sandor said, reaching out a hand to take the tablet back. Ilana surrendered it. Sandor opened a third test beside the other two and handed the tablet back to Ilana once again. "This is a test I ran on one of the five of you after I ran theses other two tests. Please, look at the results."

Ilana quickly skipped all the preliminaries this time and skimmed down to the results.

All five pairs of eyes widened.

"Just whose tests are we looking at here, Sandor?" Homer asked shakily.

Sandor looked down for a few seconds, then met the five's eyes. "The first is… a Gamilon soldier from the floating continent back at Jupiter. The second is from the memorial we found on that same island. The third…" Sandor stopped short, not sure how to say the next part. Finally, he decided to just say it. "The third one is yours, Homer."

The other four crewmen's eyes shot to Homer in disbelief.

"He's – he's one of them?!" Hartwick exclaimed, pointing at Homer and backing away from him.

"No, Hartwick…" Sandor replied softly, "All of your tests came back the same as Homer's. All five of you share this same marker with these two Gamilons." Sandor said, then looked at Gilad, "Hartwick, Homer's not 'one of them.' Quite the opposite. It seems that _they_ are a part of _you_."

"But that makes no… sense…" Ilana put in, "How could this alien race be connected to us, they've never been to Earth."

There was silence in the room.

"They _haven't_ been to Earth… right?" Ilana repeated.

"Perhaps not in the recent past." Sandor replied, "But their roots clearly indicate a history with Earth, and with Israel in particular. I don't have any answers for you right now, but I will let you know if and when I find more information."

"Please tell me you haven't told the rest of the crew." Ilana said, anxiously.

"No. You five are the only ones other than the Captain and me who know this." Sandor replied, "And it's going to stay that way until we know more."

"Thank you, Sandor…" Homer said. "Maybe we should get back to our posts… before everyone else starts to wonder."

"Yes, you should." The Captain nodded, "If anyone should ask you anything you can't answer, feel free to refer them to one of us."

"Yes, Captain." Came the reply from all five.

"You're dismissed." said Avatar.

All five crewmen left quickly, some looking more shaken than others. But when Homer was almost all the way out the door he turned and said, "You were right Sandor. I kind of wish we _did_ just have a disease." Then he stepped out the door and let it shut behind him.

When the door was shut Sandor looked at the Captain and said, "What have we gotten ourselves into?"

The comm crackled and Orion's voice said, "Captain, we have a small problem with the engine."

"What is it?" Avatar asked.

"That blast from the Wave Motion Gun overloaded some circuits down here that we can't go without long-term. I can work up replacements for 'em, but we'll have to get some raw materials before I can start."

"What do you need, Orion?"

"Titanite, Captain. Good thing for us we haven't left the solar system yet."

"Don't we have any of it on board?" Avatar asked.

"I wish we did, but we left in such a hurry that they didn't get a chance to ship any more of the stuff in." replied the engineer.

"Alright, we'll make a stop."

"Thanks, Captain.

The comm went silent.

"Well, Sandor, get to the bridge and let Venture know we're going to the Saturn-Titan area."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

"Where are we?" Gantz demanded as he struggled to his feet. The surprise warp had thrown him and most of his crew to the floor.

"We're just outside the orbit of the world the Eratites call 'Saturn.'" The navigator supplied while catching his breath from his own tumble.

"Damage report?" the Colonel asked.

"Damage to multiple decks, as well as our prime weapon and parts of the engine." Came the reply.

"Begin repairs immediately." Gantz ordered, then said, "And try to raise the Zakkar base."

"Trying now, Colonel," the com officer responded, then was quiet for several moments while he tried to get a signal from the base on the Memorial island. "Nothing's coming in, Sir." He finally said, "No signal at all."

Gantz said nothing – just stood there, his face growing angrier and angrier by the second until he exploded, "They killed them all! The butchers murdered them all!" he took a shaky breath, "The next time we cross that ship's path, we bring it down."

* * *

_Argo_ settled into orbit around the ringed giant's tiny moon. Venture had had to take more precautions before the warp to Saturn to make doubly sure that the engine wasn't overtaxed.

The crew seemed to be getting more and more excited – or perhaps it was anxiety they exuded, no one could really tell. The closer they got to the outer edge of their solar system, the more emotions began to heighten.

The question now was, who would be tasked with retrieving the Titanite that Orion needed along with extra in case this problem happened again.

* * *

"Come on, Doc, let me outta here." Wildstar protested from his bed in the medical bay. "I'm fine now. I haven't puked in two hours. You didn't say anything about that stuff you shot me up with having side effects."

"If you'll recall, Wildstar, I didn't have your attention at the time I 'shot you up.'"

"Shoulda told me anyway." Derek mumbled.

"You left once without permission; I'm not letting you leave again – at least, not for a while, not until you're completely recovered from that idiotic suicide mission you gave yourself."

"Doc, I'm fine!" Wildstar insisted.

"You are _not_ fine, you're acting like an idi – "

The Doctor stopped short when his communicator beeped. He pulled it out and looked at something on the screen. After a moment, he stuffed the thing back into his pocket. A brief look of annoyance flickered across the old doctor's face, then disappeared.

"Fine… you can go, but I'm coming to find you in three hours."

"Derek Wildstar, report to the bridge." The announcement came over the med bay's comm.

"Alright!" Wildstar whooped and shot out of bed, suddenly feeling woozy, but the feeling passed almost instantly. "Finally getting out of here. This place smells like peroxide." Wildstar sniffed the air, "And… sake?"

"Just get to the bridge." Sane ordered.

"Alright, I'm going," he said, then thought, _"Three hours of peace is better than nothing."_ Derek tugged on his jacket and hurried out of the med bay.

A few minutes later he was on the bridge.

"Captain." He saluted.

"At ease, Wildstar." Avatar almost laughed at the young man's sudden enthusiasm. "We need you to go with IQ-9 and Miss Forrester to retrieve some Titanite."

"Captain, pardon my asking, but, how did you convince the Doc to let me out?"

"Sometimes, Wildstar, it just takes a word from someone you've almost died with to convince you of something."

At this, Derek's face sobered a bit, "Yeah… I suppose that would do it."

"Get ready to head down to Titan, and make this trip as short as possible. We don't know if there are any more Gamilon ships out here, and we don't want to be around to find out."

"Yes, Sir." Derek replied and hurried off to get ready for the expedition he'd just been tasked with leading.

* * *

"There it is." Derek announced, "Big yellow chunks of rock, just like the report said there'd be. I'm setting down in that canyon." He indicated the wide fissure that housed the needed Titanite. "IQ-9, you have your little cronies ready to roll back there?"

"They are ready, Wildstar." The robot replied, "But they are not 'cronies,' they are a highly specialized quad of robot assistants designed to –"

"Yeah, yeah, can it, tin head." Wildstar cut IQ off. "Just be ready."

"I am ready." IQ quipped.

"Derek, stop being so rude to IQ." Nova chided as the ship slowly sank to the floor of the canyon.

"He's just a robot, Nova."

"What does that have to do with anything?" she replied, "Just try to be more civil to him, will you?"

"Whatever." Wildstar dismissed just as the cargo plane settled on Titan's surface. "Let's just get this over with."

All three passengers disembarked and set for the robots to cut and load the Titanite.

* * *

"We have a ship on the radar, Colonel." Came the announcement Gantz had been waiting for.

"_So they finally made it here."_ He thought, "What are they doing?"

"It looks like they've sent some sort of scout ship down to the surface. We don't know why yet, but they've settled in a canyon on one of the planet's moons."

"Send out the Merkevet* squad." Gantz ordered, "Order them to capture whatever crewmen they find on that moon and bring them back here, but if the Eratites become violent, have the Merkevetim* terminate them."

"Yes, Colonel."

* * *

"We ready to go?" Wildstar asked as the last of the robot squad was loaded up into the ship.

"I'm ready." IQ-9 announced.

"So am I." Nova echoed.

"Great, let's get off this rock." Wildstar started to get into the plane.

The plating next to his hand exploded.

"Get down!" Wildstar shouted over his suit comm as he whipped around and drew his weapon. But when he looked around, he saw nothing in the direction he thought the assault had come from. Then he looked up and froze.

Just above them on the canyon's edge sat a line of tanks, their weapons all pointed straight at him, Nova, and IQ-9.

"I think we're a bit late on our departure time, Derek." Nova said over the comm. "Any ideas on who that is and how we get out of this?"

"Not really, no." Wildstar replied, unless we can make a run for it and somehow into an area where they can't follow."

"I find that idea to be very unwise." IQ-9 put in, "Your chances of success are less than a thousand to one. You wouldn't even make it to the next hill."

"Thanks, oh eternal optimist." Wildstar quipped. "Now can you give us some sort of distraction or something so we can at least _try_ not to die here?"

"I am fully capable of a distraction." IQ replied. "What should I do?"

"I don't know, tin head, be creative." Wildstar replied.

"You are fortunate that I'm programmed to be creative."

* * *

The Merkevet squad had the three members of the Eratite crew in their sights: one man, one woman, and one robot. They started to charge a stun beam that would knock at least the man and woman out for hours. The robot, on the other hand, might prove harder to disable without frying its circuits.

The man and woman were both crouched down behind their plane. The robot was standing near where the squad had seen the other two drop.

Suddenly the robot came out from behind the plane and started dancing wildly towards another part of the canyon.

The lead Merkevet was so taken aback by the movement that it followed the robot's movement.

"Now!" Derek signaled Nova to run. "I'll be right behind you."

"What about IQ?" Nova asked, alarmed that Derek might just be considering leaving the robot behind.

"Don't worry about him, he can take care of himself. He'll find us."

"Okay." Nova agreed.

"On three we'll both go for that huge rock down the canyon in the _other_ direction. Got it?"

"Yeah." Nova replied, "Just count already."

"One," he stole a glance up at the tanks. They all appeared to be fascinated with IQ's very weird "dancing. "Two," he looked ahead, at the shelter that might protect them from their enemy while they figured out a way to get off of Titan alive. "Three!"

Derek and Nova bolted towards the rock formation, hoping that the operators of those tanks didn't see them making a run for it.

Nova counted to four in her head and was relieved when no shots came. She continued counting, but when she reached seven, the ground behind them exploded, nearly sending them both flying. By some miracle both of them kept their feet but started running faster than they ever had in their lives.

"I don't think they appreciate my creativity very much." IQ's voice came over their suit comms.

"Maybe – not – " Wildstar replied, "But – at least – we're not – dead yet."

Another round of fire crashed into the ground, this time beside them. Both instinctively dodged away from the shot.

They dove behind the rock they'd been eyeing from the cargo plane and collapsed from the run, both breathing hard.

"He's – still a tin head, but – I guess he can be useful sometimes." Derek said to Nova.

"See, he's not all bad," she replied just as raggedly.

Derek leaned against the rock as he sat on the ground, causing his feet to slide away from him, towards the far canyon wall. He started to draw them back, to keep them out of the line of enemy fire.

One foot hit something hard. A rock, he thought. He started to kick it away, then stopped when he saw a glint of metal. He carefully reached down and scraped away the hard crust that had formed around the object.

"Huh?!" he wondered out loud. "What's an astro-automatic doing on Titan?"

He rubbed more of the grime off of the weapon, revealing the insignia of the ship the gun's owner had once belonged to.

"The… _Yukikake_?!" Wildstar exclaimed, then looked below the insignia where the owner's initials were stamped. He turned to Nova in disbelief, "This is Alex's gun!"

* * *

**Episode 14 Notes:**

* Merkevet/ Merkevetim – tank(s)


	17. Episode 15: Blood Ties

**Episode 15: Blood Ties**

Derek stared at the weapon in his hand. "What's this doing here?!" He exclaimed, thrown completely off guard by the sudden discovery.

"Wildstar," Nova's voice came over the suit com, "That's not all that's here. This 'rock' we're hiding behind," she paused to take a quick glance back at their attackers, "It has a metal-heavy signature. I think it might be part of the _Yukikaze._"

"W – why?" Derek stuttered.

"The insignia." She replied and scooted away from him so that he could see the portion of the 'rock' she'd had at her back.

Wildstar froze, his eyes glued to the spot Nova had just uncovered. The unmistakable Japanese characters stood out faintly through layers of thick ice. Titan's severe temperature and harsh wind had covered this piece of Alex's ship completely.

"How did we not see it…?" Wildstar breathed. "I should have known…"

"There was no way to know about this before now, Derek." Nova replied, "And we can't stay here for long. Those tanks will blow this ship to pieces eventually. We have to contact the _Argo_."

"Yeah…" Derek nodded, starting to feel numb, "Yeah, I'll do that…" he shook his head, trying to clear some of the fog of disbelief from his mind. "_Argo_!" he tried to call the ship from the comm in his suit. "_Argo,_ please respond!"

There was no response.

"Great." He grunted, "They're too far away, the only way we can raise them is on the ship's comm."

"What about IQ-9?" Nova asked, wincing as enemy fire slammed into the other side of the ship debris, causing pieces of metal and chunks of half-melted ice to fly everywhere.

"Still too far for him too, I think." Derek replied, his mind more clear now.

"What about me?" the red robot suddenly appeared behind Nova, making her jump.

"IQ! Don't _do_ that!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry." Replied IQ.

"Can you get in touch with the ship from this distance?" Derek asked.

"The ship is just out of my communicator range." The robot replied. "We will have to get back to our plane to contact the ship."

"That's what I was afraid of…" Derek mumbled under his breath.

"The enemy appears to be very bad at shooting targets." IQ commented, "Or perhaps they aren't supposed to kill us."

"Not kill us…" Wildstar echoed quietly, an idea suddenly coming to him. "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out, right."

"Derek, no!" Nova reached out to haul him back, but Wildstar caught her hand and looked her in the eye.

"Let me try this." He said and squeezed her hand.

Nova felt something strange shoot through her just then, but couldn't figure out exactly what it was. "Okay…" she relented, "But if they shoot you, I'm making IQ drag you back to the ship."

Derek chuckled; a sudden feeling of levity fell over him and for just a second he didn't care if he got himself blown away if it meant his crewmates could get back to the ship in one piece. Maybe it had something to do with his finding Alex's gun so unexpectedly. After all, his brother had given all so that his fellow soldiers could come home. Would it be so bad for him to die the same way?

Derek shot out from behind the remains of the _Yukikaze_, headed for the a dead run.

Nova stared after him intently, holding her breath.

Suddenly the ground in front of Wildstar exploded and Derek yelped right before falling into the small crater the tank had just made.

A gasping wheeze came over the radio, "I'm fine." Derek announced. "I'm okay, just –" he coughed, "Got the wind knocked out of me." He took a deep breath and bolted out of the crater, setting his course for the ship again.

He was stopped short not fifty yards from the ship by another explosion, closer to him this time, but definitely nowhere near lethal.

He stopped faster than he ever had, a split second before he would have fallen face-first again into a crater.

"Oh great…" Derek muttered whipping out his astro-automatic and squeezing off several rounds at something Nova couldn't see.

She peeked around the ship remains, trying to see what was going on.

She gasped. Enemy soldiers swarmed down the cliff, some managing to shoot in the vicinity of Wildstar.

"_This could end badly…"_ Nova thought, _"Even if they don't want us dead, we can't let them take us."_ She wracked her brain. Finding only one solution, she looked at IQ-9 and said, "Follow me as fast as you can."

"I do not recommend the course of action you are about to take, Lieutenant Forrester." IQ cautioned.

"I know, IQ. Just follow me." Nova replied soberly. "I can't let him do this alone."

Nova watched the enemy soldiers intently, waiting for the right time to run.

Then, for just an instant, all of the men coming down the cliff looked away.

Nova dashed out from behind the ship remains, sprinting as fast as she could in her EV suit. When she was a few feet out from behind her refuge, she could hear bolts of electric energy flying around her and IQ's crackling protests coming through the radio.

Miraculously she caught up to Derek unscathed.

"Nova, what are you doing?!" Wildstar protested.

"Helping you." She replied, drawing her own weapon and training it on one of the enemy soldiers who'd made it down the cliff. It was only then that she noticed something strange about the soldiers' movements, and the gait of those running or walking towards them. It seemed… mechanical somehow.

"IQ, can you scan those soldiers?" Nova asked.

"Yes." Came the monotone reply, "After I reinitiate my locomotion protocols."

"Your what?" Nova asked, turning to look at the strange robot, "Oh…" she grimaced, just now realizing that, though she hadn't been hit, their metal friend had been. "What's wrong with you?"

"I was hit by some sort of stun blast." IQ replied, "It shorted out some of my circuits. I must adapt to the disability. I am ready now. Scanning the first soldier." There was a moment's pause. "That soldier is not constructed of organic material." The robot announced. "They bear more resemblance to my own makeup than yours."

"They're robots…" Nova whispered under her breath.

"What's that?" Derek asked.

"They're robots, Wildstar. That's why they're so good at missing us. You were right, IQ, they're not here to kill us."

Derek looked at Nova sharply, "They're not taking either of us anywhere."

Nova nodded back, mirroring the purpose in Derek's eyes. "We can't let them get anything from the ship either – or IQ for that matter." She said.

"None of them can leave this canyon." Wildstar said soberly. "We're lucky they're robots."

"And why is that exactly?" Nova asked.

Derek smirked a little, "Because they follow orders without question. That means that, even if we pick them off, they won't change their minds and decide to go after us."

"Let's hope so." Nova said under her breath, then drew a bead on the closest robotic enemy and fired.

* * *

"They'd have done better if they'd stayed in their tanks." Nova commented, "Are they all gone now?"

"Yeah, I think so." Wildstar replied as he picked his way through the pieces of metal and something that looked like metal but wasn't. He scooped a few of the pieces of the stuff into one of his suit storage pockets, knowing that Sandor would chide him if he didn't at least get _something_ from those tanks. "Let's get outta here."

"Roger that." Nova replied, relieved. She quickly started for the plane, looking forward to getting back aboard ship where – at least for now – no one was shooting at them.

Derek ran to catch up with her with IQ trailing behind them.

Nova was the first to get to the plane and she reached to open the boarding ramp.

She yelped and jumped back when a bolt of energy exploded into the hull right beside her hand.

Derek turned and drew his weapon on instinct, pulling Nova down to the cold ground and shielding her.

"IQ what's going –"

Derek's question was cut off by another shot, this one knocking his gun right out of his hand and throwing it quite a few yards away, unreachable. He started to let out a few expletives, but was interrupted when he saw a single enemy soldier walking towards them, weapon pointed directly at Derek's helmet. One direct hit with anywhere close to the power that had sent his weapon flying would surely leave him with a leaky suit – an experience he didn't want to repeat.

He slowly started to raise his hands, standing up slowly careful to keep Nova in his shadow.

The enemy soldier drew closer, its stiff movements more noticeable now.

It pointed to Nova and motioned for her to stand up too and throw her own weapon a good distance away, then it pointed to IQ, indicating that he was to stay put or he would be shot without a second thought, and this time the shot wouldn't be just a stun bolt.

"I don't think it likes me very much." The robot quipped.

"Shut up, IQ." Derek replied, then added, "Can you get into the plane's systems from here and contact the ship?"

"Yes."

"Then do it, you bucket of bolts."

"Already working on it."

The enemy soldier looked from the robot to Derek and back, then abruptly shot the ground right next to Derek's foot.

"Okay, shutting up now." Derek muttered. _"If only I had half a second…"_ he thought, feeling the weight of Alex's astro-automatic tucked into the back of his utility belt. _"Come on you stupid tin head, give me a chance to blow you away."_ Derek gritted his teeth in frustration.

They all stood deathly still for what seemed like an eternity. Suddenly IQ's domed head lit up like obnoxious, blinking Christmas lights.

The enemy soldier whirled around to look at the other robot.

In a flash Derek whipped out his brothers gun, took aim, and shot the enemy soldier right through its metal head.

The thing's limp body fell to the icy ground, twitching.

"Thanks, IQ." Derek breathed, adrenaline still running through him.

"I was only doing what you told me, Wildstar. The plane's systems were exceptionally hard to interface with. We should inform Science Officer Sandor when we return to the ship."

At this Wildstar let out a brief, but hearty laugh, the relief of the moment washing over him. "You are something, IQ."

"Yes I am." The robot replied, having no idea what he was really saying.

"What do you say we bring this one back?" Derek turned to ask Nova, but instead of seeing her attentive face, he saw only the back of her suit helmet. "Nova?" he asked, starting to get concerned. He took a step towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh – I'm sorry, Wildstar." She looked back at him, "I was just… thinking…" she said, turning around to look at the enemy soldier's remains, "What if your brother Alex _hadn't_ stayed to fight that day…? After all… we'd have been without a defense today… Maybe we'd be on a Gamilon ship headed for their homeworld… Perhaps worse."

Derek took in a sharp breath, then clenched his jaw, fighting off the tears that threatened to come at the thought of his brother. "Yeah." He said simply and nodded in agreement, "I know."

He looked down at the battered weapon and thought, _"So you're still looking out for me, big brother… even now…"_

* * *

"This is the most important find we've had regarding Gamilon's fighting force." Sandor exclaimed, trying to hold back a huge grin. "This could answer so many questions, fill in so many gaps in our knowledge." Sandor took a long look at the remains of the machine Derek, Nova, and IQ had hauled back along with their load of Titanite. "I regret that you had to retrieve it under such circumstances, but –"

Derek held up a hand, "I get it, Sandor; you're welcome."

Sandor nodded, "Thank you."

"And that Titanite you brought back should last us the rest of the journey – barring too many more, um, incidents." Orion added.

"Good. Because I don't want to have to do that again." Wildstar smirked, "Though IQ's idea of dancing is pretty funny, not to mention his traffic accident impression."

* * *

The _Argo_'s engines started up and she slowly pulled away from the ringed giant's moon. The stars around her glowed in the blackness of space, like jewels on velvet. The perpetual night seemed to engulf everything except the flickering light that almost glowed around the Erath ship as she sailed onward, fighting towards her goal over a hundred thousand light-years away.

But if the crew had looked closely they might have seen the barest shadow of something following them.

* * *

On the dark bridge of the shadow ship, a troubled, bitter man stares out at the Earth ship, his green eyes boring into the ancient hulk's very soul.

"They intend to go the whole way, don't they…?" the man breathed, his voice gravely with anger, "What makes them think they can get through all the might of Gamilon and the forces of the universe too? They are so arrogant." He growled.

He took a few steps towards the front viewport, then ordered, "Stay with them." He narrowed his eyes at the ship, "But stay in the shadows. We mustn't be seen by them _or_ by the Gamilon fleet."

"Yes, Captain!" came the simple reply.

* * *

"You failed! Again!" Gantz exclaimed. "How am I supposed to explain this to Leader Desslok?"

"Sir, the battalion did exactly what we programmed them to do, but it seems that… the Eratites had a very strange robot companion with them. It proved too distracting for the battalion."

"Too distracting?!" Gantz asked in disbelief.

"It lured their attention away from the two Eratite crewmen who proceeded to wipe out the entire unit."

"Only two of them? Who programmed that unit? I want him replaced immediately." Gantz ordered.

"Yes, Colonel."

"And continue following the Eratite ship – at a distance. We don't want them seeing us just yet." The Colonel ordered.

"Of course, Colonel.

With that the Gamilon fleet pulled back to watch the strange enemy ship from a safe distance.

* * *

"Captain, we're intercepting a message from the Gamilon fleet to the homeworld." The comm officer aboard the shadow ship informed his captain.

"Play it." The man ordered.

"Yes, Sir."

The message audio began streaming through the ship's comm system for all the bridge crew to hear.

"_Leader Desslok," the apparent captain's voice began, "I regret to say that we have again failed to apprehend the Eratite ship. Even an attempt to capture two of their crew failed."_

"_And…?" _

The ship captain hissed at the sound of the Leader's voice.

"_Sire, I thought you would be… angry about such a development."_

"_I am not overjoyed, Colonel, but I am not surprised either." The Leader replied. "What made you think it would be easy to defeat an enemy that is fighting for their very existence?"_

There was silence between the two men for a long moment. Then the "Colonel" replied.

"_I see your point, Sire. We will continue to follow them. Our next attempt will be at our base on Pluto."_

"_Very well." The Leader replied, then cut off the transmission._

The shadow ship's captain nodded, "Well men, we know where our next move will be made."

The crew nodded back.

"Our revenge must come to fruition. To do that we must see that the impossible becomes possible. We must see that strange ship safely to the very doorstep of that rebel's palace."

A hearty agreement echoed through the dark bridge.

* * *

Nova stood alone, looking out on Saturn for what little time they would be close to the world.

She'd never seen any of the planets up close – except for Mars in their recent warp there, and Jupiter too though she hadn't had much time to admire the gas giant as they'd been fighting for their lives at the time.

She smiled as she remembered them both. Even though the situations hadn't been ideal, the experiences had been invaluable. She'd learned so much in just the short amount of time she'd been aboard this ship.

Coming aboard with a higher rank than others of her same age had been awkward at first, and she was fairly certain that a number of the crewmen that didn't know her thought she'd come by her rank through unsavory methods, though nothing could be further from the truth.

This was a strange crew she had to admit. Just the bridge crew alone was made up of mostly new graduates of the Academy. Sure, there were a few veterans, but their numbers were far less than their inexperienced counterparts. In some ways she knew this was a very bad idea, but something in her also said that this was the best thing this ship could ever have had. New minds tempered the cautiousness of the old, spurring them to do things they would have never dared do had the crew been made up solely of veterans.

She leaned on the railing letting her eyes wander over the many stars, including their own sun.

This was going to be quite a journey, one she was sure she would be telling stories about for many years to come. She only hoped they were stories of triumph in the face of adversity, and not of bitter defeat.

She was just about to leave the tiny observation area when her eye caught something strange a ways off.

She squinted, trying to see whatever it was that had caught her eye again.

She looked and looked for a long time, but whatever it was had gone.

A strange feeling started to knot up in her gut. She tried to push it away, rationalizing that it must be from the knowledge that the Gamilon fleet was undoubtedly following them and that she was anxious about their next meeting.

She looked outside one more time and, seeing nothing, she tried again to convince herself she was just jumpy, but the feeling continued to haunt her, even after she'd left the observation area and was safely in her own quarters.


	18. Episode 16: Winds of Change

**Episode 16: Winds of Change**

"Attention all crew. Repairs to the ship are complete. We will now return to the homeworld." Captain Raphan's announcement came as a relief to them all. Their time spent on repairs had been grueling. Round the clock shifts had left them all tired and ready to return to the fight to fend off the Eratites.

Melda sat on her small bed, staring at the floor. She felt strange in this uniform. It was much like the ones she'd seen Desslok's officers wearing before she'd left Gamilon to find her daughter. The green and black were somehow calming to her. Perhaps it was the shred of familiarity they offered; but though the material was comfortable, the ensemble felt wrong.

She got up and stepped to the tiny closet. She opened it and perused the few things in it. She found one of the violet pilot's uniforms she'd seen several of the other crewmen wearing. Then there was a set of casual clothes the girl must have worn when she'd been off-duty. Lastly, there was a uniform she'd never seen before. It was a stunning red – close to her bold hair color – with plain black pants and shined boots.

The last one caught her attention and she took it out of the closet. She laid the garment out on the bed and stared at it.

She ran her fingers over the material. It was soft, well-made.

The insignia on the garment caught her eye. It was surrounded by a curious phrase. "Lower Storm Leader."

"_What in the Shamayim is this?"_ she thought, fingering the insignia.

"Computer, what is a 'Lower Storm Leader'?" she asked.

The computer immediately responded, "The 'Lower Storm Leader' ranks below the Commander of Gamilon's armed forces and the Prime Minister. Their responsibilities include the recruitment of pilots, maintaining a communications link with the Prime Minister during any and all recruitment trips, and representing the Gamilon Royal Navy Pilot Corps in all matters deemed necessary by the Commander of all GRN forces."

"Who is the Commander of the GRN?" she asked.

"General Dommel Lysis."

"_Dommel?_ She thought, surprised, "And the Prime Minister?"

"The Prime Minister of Gamilon is Masterson Talan."

Dara's eyes widened,_ "What was this girl doing here?"_ she took a deep breath, _"What's happened while I've been gone…?"_ she sat down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering.

Her thoughts were short-lived however when she felt something in the floor beneath her foot move. She jerked her foot back from the spot and her eyes shot to the floor.

* * *

A hidden compartment?

Her mind started racing again. What could be hidden in here? Were Dommel and Masterson secretly planning something? Had this girl been spying for them? But why would they need a spy?

Dara slowly reached down and flipped open the secret compartment. The space was dark and she couldn't see what was down in the small hole. She thought about just closing it back up, but her curiosity got the better of her and she reached in.

Her fingers found purchase on something that felt like leather. A book?

She got her hand around part of the object and pulled it up.

It _was_ a book – an old one by the look of it. The cover was worn and in some places had started to tear a little, but despite that, it was clear that it had been well-used and loved. There were no markings on the cover – likely worn off with the years – so Dara opened it and turned to the first page that had any writing on it.

There was only one word on the page.

"Tanakh?"

* * *

The _Rakiah Cobel _sailed through the void, her crew on edge. They'd just escaped death at the hands of the Eratite ship only to end up temporarily stranded on a strange world none of them had ever seen before and never wanted to see again. The whole crew looked forward to their return home. What would the Leader have for them to do now that they had made it through this ordeal?

Captain Raphan sat on the bridge staring out into the space before them. They'd just completed their last warp on their journey home and the familiar green sphere of Gamilon would soon loom before them. Their uncalculated warp away from Erats had mercifully sent them much closer to home than they'd first realized. Even though he knew they would all soon be sent out again, it felt good to be home.

"_At least the Storm Leader is alright."_ Thought Raphan. _"I don't want to know what General Lysis would have said if she'd been wounded, or – forbid the thought – lost in the battle." _He shook his head, _"So why do I feel so uneasy about our return now…?"_ he watched his bridge crew prepare to enter Gamilon's orbit and then her atmosphere.

The air seemed to get thicker the closer they came to their world.

"We're receiving a hail from the capitol." The comm officer broke the silence.

"Put it on screen." Raphan replied.

The image of Leader Desslok himself appeared before them all and every one of them stood and saluted their ruler.

"Leader Desslok." Raphan bowed his head to the other man. "We are at your service, Sire."

The Leader stared back at Raphan blankly for a half-second, then nodded to the captain and replied, "Yes Captain, and I am glad to see that you and your ship are still intact after the encounter Colonel Gantz had with the Eratite ship. The reports I received were… incomplete at best. Perhaps your ship logs will provide a better understanding of the… incident."

"Of course, Sir. We'll provide you with everything we have regarding the encounter."

"Very good." The Leader replied, "Preparations have been made for your ships to land here in Belarus. Upon your arrival, you will allow your crew to disperse until you receive further instructions."

"Thank you, Sir."

The Leader nodded, "Your new orders will arrive within two days. Your crew should remain within a day's journey from Belarus."

"Understood." The Captain replied.

The Leader's face disappeared.

"You heard him, my friends." Raphan's eyes roamed from one person to another, "We're going home for two days."

The tension on the bridge melted and slowly, smiles began to appear on every face. None of them had expected to come home any time soon, and few of them expected to have much if any time with friends or family. Two days wasn't much time, but it would have to be good enough.

* * *

"Incoming message." The computer's announcement startled Dara.

She didn't know what to say for a couple of seconds, which prompted he computer to repeat itself. She took a deep breath and replied, "Put it through."

She turned to face the computer, assuming the message would come through there as she didn't see any other way to receive outside communication.

She sighed with relief when a face appeared on the screen, but her relief vanished when she recognized the man as the one in the picture with the girl she was impersonating.

"Melda!" the man exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're alright! We heard about the encounter with the Eratite ship, but the initial reports said that there were only a few ships that made it out and _Rakiah Cobel _wasn't on the list. How did you escape?"

* * *

Dara stood there speechless, her heart feeling like it was shredding into a thousand tiny pieces. This man – Melda's father she now presumed – thought his beloved child was alive and well. For a long moment she thought about telling the man the truth, but when she opened her mouth to tell him she found that she just couldn't.

"We… The Captain warped the ship out. It was uncalculated… It's a miracle we're ever alive I would say…" Dara replied, thankful now that she'd read the ship logs from those few days before and after the Eratite encounter.

"How did you end up in our galaxy from such a great distance?" the man asked.

"I don't know…" Dara said softly, then added under her breath with the most sincerity she'd ever expressed, "By the hand of Adonai I suppose…"

"Perhaps so." The man replied.

Dara looked away, embarrassed that he had heard her.

"No need to hide your sentiments, Melda." The man smiled softly, "I've known about your adoption of the Christians' faith for some time."

Dara's eyes widened in surprise.

"And that is why… I've come to see this conflict with the Eratites in a new light. I dare not speak of this more here. Come home for a while. We'll discuss everything then."

"Yes, of course. I'll come as soon as I can get my things together."

"I'll see you soon, Melda."

With that the transmission ended and there was silence in the small room.

Dara sighed, "How am I supposed to go somewhere I've never been?" then she had a thought. "Computer, how do I get home?"

Dara stood in front of the unfamiliar house and tentatively asked for entry. The door opened readily, welcoming her, and she stepped in, her heart beating faster than a bee's tiny wings. She felt like she might pass out for a moment, but the feeling passed.

"Melda! You've made it." The exclamation startled her so much that a bolt of fear shot through her. What if she was discovered? How would she explain?

She shook the terror from her mind and turned to face the one who'd greeted her.

In the entryway to her right stood an old, woman with graying hair, a kind face, and a generous girth.

"H – hello?" Dara said hesitantly, not sure who this was and how she should address her. She didn't look like the woman she assumed was Melda's mother from the hologram in the girl's quarters.

Seeing the hesitation in Dara's face, the woman stepped towards her, arms outstretched, and said, "Oh Melda, have you been gone so long that you've forgotten old Babette?" she wrapped her arms around the girl in a friendly hug.

Dara relaxed. Obviously she was a housekeeper or something, and if _she_ didn't recognize Dara's mask, then perhaps no one would.

Hope started to kindle in her again that maybe – just maybe – she might be able to get away with this for longer than she had initially thought.

"No, of course not. I just… I didn't think I would be home so soon after our deployment."

"Ah, yes. That would make anyone feel a bit out of place – especially in times like these." Babette patted Dara on the back and stepped back, holding her at arm's length. "Now, let me get a good look at you." The woman looked Dara over for a moment, "My, my you have grown a bit thin. Have they been feeding you on that ship of yours?"

"Yes, Babette," Dara nodded, "Though the food here at home is much better than ship rations."

"Of course it is." Babette said, looking pleased with herself, "No ship – GRN though it be – can make food like I can."

"Melda!" the same man who had called her earlier aboard the ship appeared behind Babette, a smile on his face. Suddenly Dara saw the strange scar that ran over his right eye and the wrinkles running through his aging face more clearly.

Babette stepped aside, "I'll let you two talk. If you need me I will be preparing some tea." The woman left quietly.

The man looked at Dara for a long moment.

Dara's heart began to race again. The longer the man remained silent, the more nervous Dara felt.

"I am… very happy you've returned unharmed." He said quietly. "But there is much I must talk with you about. Please, come." He turned and led Dara into another room. It was furnished comfortably and Dara thought she would have felt at home if she wasn't so nervous about what this man was about to say.

He walked slowly to a chair and sat, then he motioned for Dara to take a seat across from him.

She did as she was told and sat.

"So what do you think of these Eratites?" the man asked.

Dara was quiet for a while, trying to remember the things she'd read in the brief notes that this girl Melda had left. In truth, she had written very little down. Most of her thoughts must have remained locked inside her own head, perhaps in the event that her endeavors were ever discovered. Dara had had to read between the lines to really find out what the girl had thought of the strange race.

"They are…" Dara looked down at the floor, "Different… but in a lot of ways they are the same as we are." Dara looked back up at the man as she shifted to something more easily discussed, "They appear to only have one real battleship – the one that attacked us. Other than that, their resources are too depleted to offer much more resistance than that, but that one ship…" she paused, remembering Melda's notes again, "It is a strange ship… it seems to have been salvaged from some ancient wreck they were able to uncover. It should not be able to wield the power that it does, but somehow it was able to destroy ships much more advanced. And yet…" she stopped, something she'd read suddenly sticking out in her mind. "They did not launch an attack unless we fired first. Never once did they attack us unprovoked."

"Hmm…" the man let his eyes drop to his booted feet. "So they are not savages, nor are they mindless idiots."

"No, I have not seen evidence of either of those things." Dara replied. "They are… a lot… like us." She said softly.

The man was silent for a long time, sitting with his hands folded in front of him, his eyes trained on the floor.

Dara waited in silence, wondering what was going through this man's mind.

Suddenly he looked up at her and said, "You have told me for so long that Adonai would not have us to kill these Eratites – even in the name of our own survival. You have long held that we should have asked them for help instead of killing them off in the hopes of taking over their world. I did not agree with you then. I thought that the only way to save ourselves was to sacrifice _them_." He took a deep breath, "I am Admiral Gul Dietz, second in command to the Commander of all GRN forces, Dommel Lysis, and yet… I know when I am wrong… And you, my own daughter, though I do not ascribe to your beliefs, I must agree with you now in regards to our plans concerning the Eratites. And there are others who do not agree with the Leader's offensive against them. I must spread the word regarding the things you have told me today."

"You're thinking of starting a rebellion?" Dara suddenly asked, utterly taken aback.

"I do not know yet, Melda." Dietz replied, "I must speak with the others first."

Dara nodded, "Of course." Then she thought to herself, _"What have I done?"_

* * *

_Rakiah Cobel _had never looked better to Dara. The past day and a half had been the most tiring of her life. Pretending to be someone else was harder than she had first thought. She had to think about everything she said, did, or even thought before she did or said it.

She had to pay attention to everything her "family" said, trying to piece together everything she didn't really know about the girl whose face she wore. One thing was certain however. This girl – this "Melda" was deeply entrenched in something serious, and Dara had to find out exactly what was going on as soon as possible. How exactly that would happen, she didn't know, but she had her work cut out for her and she saw many a sleepless night in her future.

And then there was Constance… Thus far she had had no chance to even think about finding a way to continue her search for her lost daughter. She had thought many a time over the past several days about simply disappearing – taking a ship and leaving. But every time she started to think about that something inside her held her back. What would Melda's father do if his only child suddenly felt for no reason? What would her new shipmates do if their friend left them without warning or reason? It would leave too many people with questions she couldn't afford to have them asking. And then there was her conscience… Even though she didn't owe these people anything, she still felt like she _did_ owe Melda everything for the use of her identity. She owed Melda's father something for making him continue to believe that his daughter was alive when she wasn't.

She hurried to her quarters where she locked the door, unpacked her things, and sat down on her bunk, the feelings of confusion she had managed to hold at bay now breaking through what resolve she still held and crashing over her mind.

The feeling overwhelmed her and she gave in. She crawled into her bunk and curled herself up into the tiniest ball she could manage and began to weep.

* * *

"Captain, we're ready to leave. _Rakiah Cobel_ has been repaired. Some of our company haven't arrived yet, but they will meet us at a designated rendezvous point between here and Balan." Pauker reported.

"Good," Captain Raphan nodded, "Very good. Begin the launch sequence and let the rest of our company know that we will be departing shortly."

"Yes, Captain."

* * *

Far away on a bleak world covered in snow and ice a young woman watched as the snow fell all around her. She could not feel the cold, nor the little bit of heat that the sun was able to give through the thick clouds and heavy air.

She looked at the strange towers where the men called "Sentinels" lived. She had been watching them for some time now. They never saw her as she walked among them, looking at their home, hearing every order sent to them from their master, and planning a way to get rid of them.

"Mariposa?" a voice pulled her back from her roamings about the planet. "It is Elazar."

"Elazar, you've returned." The young woman left her ethereal avatar to return to her own mind, residing in a stasis pod along with The Nine who slept along with her.

Elazar had saved her when she was dropped off here on the planet known as Phantom. The Sentinels had been assigned to hold her captive until that witch – the Malha Aurelia Guardiana – returned to claim her and mold her to become the next in line to be possessed of the shêd who held Aurelia, a devil that called itself "Diana." Mariposa did not want to be given such a foul "inheritance," and she had tried to escape on her own, but she hadn't been able to make it far before beginning to succumb to the bitter cold. It was then that Elazar had come to her in the form of a white fox and led her here to this haven within the planet's heart.

"There is something happening." Elazar's voice echoed in Mariposa's mind, "There are rumors of something happening in a far galaxy, something that has upset the Sentinels and especially the Malha."

"I have not heard of such a thing." Mariposa replied, "I have been watching them all for many days now."

"They have tried to keep the problem quiet. I only chanced to be outside the Sentinels' abode when one of them received a message form the Malha herself. It seems that she has sent an envoy to find out more about the situation. A strange ship has appeared with a weapon far beyond the people who wield it."

"And she is afraid that they will find her and use it against her?" Mariposa asked.

"I do not know…" Elazar replied quietly, "It would be strange for the Malha to fear a weapon of any magnitude. I do not think it is the weapon she fears, so much as the ones who possess it."

"They must be mighty indeed for her to fear them."

Elazar did not say anything for a moment and Mariposa thought he had gone, but then he said, "Perhaps it isn't their might she fears so such as the Spirit they bear with them."


	19. Episode 17: Shadowed

**Episode 17: Shadowed**

They watched, waited. The dark cold of space surrounded the ship as they trailed the strange Eratite vessel that sailed before them.

The captain waited silently on the bridge, arms folded in calculating thought. His black clothes made his green eyes seem to pierce through the thick air and look straight into the very soul of whoever met his gaze.

He narrowed his eyes as he stared out at the ship they were tailing. Something about it was strange. He had never seen a ship that filled him with such anticipation… _and_ such dread.

"Captain, he is ready."

"Send him then." The captain replied with a dismissive hand.

"Yes, Sir." The crewman bowed and left to send the chosen one out to do his master's bidding.

* * *

Mark jerked awake. The sensation of something crawling down his neck made him swat at his skin. It did nothing to relieve his discomfort. He got up and clicked on a small light, trying not to wake up Derek, asleep in the bunk above.

Mark rolled off his bunk and stood up, quickly finding the small mirror over in the corner. The sensation was getting worse, and he frantically started scratching at his neck.

"What in the world are you _doing_ over there?" Derek asked groggily, "Are you molting or something?"

"There's something on my neck!" Mark exclaimed.

Derek groaned and slid out of his bunk, clumping across the floor in his shorts and t-shirt. He opened his sleep-filled eyes and stared at Mark's neck.

"There's nothing there." Derek groaned, trudging back to the bunk and flopping down into it. "It's all in your head. Just go back to sleep."

"I can't! It feels like a hundred spiders are crawling down my neck and it's getting worse."

The only reply he got this time was a muffled, "Uhmph."

Suddenly the feeling disappeared and Mark was left with a strange feeling of foreboding.

"Hey Wildstar, it's –" he turned back towards his bunk, "- gone… Oh… great…"

Derek was sprawled out in Mark's bed.

Mark shook his head, _"He's drooling on my pillow…"_

* * *

Sandor sat staring at some of the most recent notes on the finds they'd made regarding Gamilon. Thus far, from what they knew, their enemy was much like them. Even their language was akin to one from Earth. Then there was the find they had made concerning the Gamilon genetic marker.

He shook his head. He knew he should feel like sleeping by now. The ship's clock read three in the morning, but thus far, sleep evaded him. Something felt wrong tonight. The air was too still and for the first time since he'd boarded this magnificent ship he felt like the walls were closing in on him.

Suddenly he felt like the air around him was moving; odd, since he was the only one in the room. Then he thought he heard the faintest whisper, but the sound disappeared just as quickly as it had come, but the air remained heavy and ominous.

* * *

The Captain slept fitfully, his wound paining him. Finally, he gave in and called Dr. Sane in to look at it.

"You knew this would happen." The doctor chided, "It's getting worse. You can't go on like this. I've said that to you several times since we left Earth. You _have_ to take it easier."

Captain Avatar nodded slowly, "I know." He was about to continue when a sudden chill overcame him and he shivered visibly.

"Have you caught a chill on top of having this hole in your side?" Sane asked, his voice squeaking a little.

"No, nothing like that, Doctor." He said, his voice low, "I cannot help but feel that we are being watched."

* * *

Nova couldn't sleep, which was a rarity for her. Usually she was well into slumber land an hour or two before mandatory lights out for her shift.

She'd gone to bed the same time she usually did, laying down quietly and closing her eyes, expecting to soon be lost in dreamless sleep, but not tonight. Tonight she lay, eyes closed, mind wide awake.

She tossed and turned, trying to avoid getting up. If she gave in to the urge to get out of bed she knew it would be that much harder to get back to sleep later, and her shift was in four hours. If she didn't get to sleep soon, she wouldn't get much of any sleep tonight.

She tried to stay still, forcing her body to relax and hopefully talk her brain into doing the same.

Finally, in frustration, she gave in and sat up slowly, rubbing her sleep deprived eyes and groaning.

"_Why… why can't I sleep?"_ she thought. _"I didn't forget anything; I haven't eaten anything strange."_

She swung her legs over the side of her bottom bunk. Her bare feet touched the cold floor and she jerked back for a second, then found her slippers and put her feet in those instead of on the floor.

She had been one of the fortunate few who had not been assigned a roommate. The rooms were small enough as it was without having to avoid someone else and their belongings. Not that she would have been too terribly disappointed with a roommate, but being alone seemed to suit her right now.

She stood up, turned on a small light and stepped over to the one small mirror in the room. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were starting to develop dark circles. Looking at her own face made her even more tired than she already was, but it didn't help with her racing mind.

She turned to go back to her bed and out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something move.

Nova squeezed her eyes shut and opened them wide, blinking them over and over, trying to clear her vision. She shook her head and looked again. Nothing was there.

"_Great, now I'm imagining things."_ She walked slowly back to her bed and sat down heavily, letting her head hang, her hair falling around her face, creating a tunnel that only let her see the floor.

Suddenly she felt the overwhelming current of memory sweeping over her. She thought about her parents – her mother and ailing father. She thought about her friends back home – some living, and some who had succumbed to the radioactivity. She thought of everything they had been through since leaving Earth, and she thought of all the times they should have been dead, should have lost someone along the way.

With those thoughts, something else came, familiar words and music melted through the racing thoughts and reformed on her lips.

She sang softly the old song now filling her heart.

"Rock of ages, cleft for me,  
Let me hide myself in Thee.  
Let the water and the blood  
From Thy wounded side which flowed  
Be of sin a double cure,  
Save from wrath and make me pure."

As she finished the first verse her room door suddenly opened, then closed on its own.

Nova's head jerked up at the sudden movement, but when she saw no one she decided it must have been a computer glitch.

Suddenly she felt very sleepy and within a few minutes she was fast asleep.

* * *

Orion stood at one of the many engineering stations down in the engine room. He was in the middle of running a series of diagnostics. Preventative maintenance had served him well in the past and saved his life more than once. Though it was hard work and required him to cut his off-shift time down to a minimum, he had promised that as long as he was an engineer, he would always do it – if not for himself, for the others whose lives might be saved because of it.

Perhaps it was his lack of sleep, or his age, but when the apparition appeared he did not react immediately.

The first thing he did was squint at it and step away from the control panel towards the sight.

The vision thundered something threatening in a voice Orion never would have thought would come from the beautiful young woman standing with her face towards the main entrance.

He was confused at the woman's words. What was she saying? And who was she speaking to? There was no one else here besides him.

The woman raised an accusing finger towards the engine room door, her voice boomed again. It seemed like she was telling someone to leave. But certainly she couldn't be speaking to him. This was his own ship. And who _was_ this woman?

Suddenly the engine room door opened and then closed, but no one passed through it. Then the woman disappeared from sight.

Orion walked quickly over to the spot the woman had been pointing at and looked around. Then he saw something glinting on the floor very close to the door. He walked over and reached out to pick up the object. It was a small silver circle with a curious emblem in the center, a bear reaching out with a clawed paw and bared teeth. An insignia? But where had it come from? Certainly it couldn't just have appeared out of thin air.

* * *

"It's not like anything _I've _ever seen." Sandor said, turning the little silver circle over and over in his hand, looking for anything that might give him a hint of where this had come from.

"Is it possible that one of the crewmen dropped it?" Avatar asked from his desk, hands folded in thought.

"Not likely, but worth finding out." Sandor replied. "I'll check the security footage, and then I'll start asking everyone who's been in the vicinity."

"Good." The Captain nodded, "Tell me what you find out."

"Of course." Sandor left quickly, his mind running through a list of everyone who might possibly have been in the engine room since the ship was created.

* * *

Six hours later Sandor had no information and felt like he needed three pots of black coffee. He had scoured the video of the engine room. He had watched every person closely who'd come near that area of the floor. He'd even watched the exact spot that Orion had pointed out to him up until the incident in the engine room.

He started the video up again about a minute before the events Orion had told him about. He stared intently at the video, waiting. Suddenly, it appeared. A silver insignia – almost like a coin – fell through the air and landed on the floor plating. It bounced once and landed face-down. Several minutes later Orion came into view, stooping down to pick up the small object.

Sandor stopped the video and backed up to the point where the apparition had appeared. Her words were much like the ones on the jewelry he'd found in the memorial on the floating continent, but not exactly – like a slightly different dialect, but it was clearly the same language. He was about to ignore the words and just watch when he heard a word he recognized.

"Starsha…?" Sandor said softly, "_This_ is Starsha of Iscandar?" he looked at her more carefully, then remembered the voice he'd heard on the recording they'd recovered from the crashed ship on Mars. _"She seems rather young to be a queen; perhaps her parents are regents for her." _he thought, _"Though she seems to have the bearing of the queen, that much I can see."_ He looked at her face. In it he saw determination, confidence… and rage. But what could she be so angry about?

Sandor followed the woman's eyes. Her gaze led him to the spot he had just been studying for hours, but, just like all the other times he'd looked at it, nothing was there.

He let the video run for a bit, watching intently. Then he saw the engine room door open. Orion had mentioned that the door opened and closed with no one going through it.

He stopped and backed up, staring again at the moment the silver sphere appeared. Something wasn't right. It didn't made sense. Nothing could just appear from nowhere. He watched the video again, looked this time at everything he hadn't been watching before. Then he saw it, a rippling in the air right before the door opened.

The hair on the back of his neck stood straight up and his eyes opened more widely than he thought they could.

* * *

"We have an intruder on board." Sandor said soberly. "I don't know if they are still here or not, but I'm certain they were here for some time. I'm now receiving reports from around the ship of unusual problems with the doors to the crew quarters and other areas including the third bridge, the mess hall, the medical bay and the Black Tiger hangars. I've checked the sensor logs and I cannot find any record of a ship approaching or docking with us. They must have some sort of cloaking technology that fools our sensors."

"Gamilon?" Avatar asked, his face deathly serious.

"I don't know, Sir." He replied, but there's something else that troubles me." He brought up the video footage, "This."

The video started playing just before the image appeared.

"What is she saying?" the captain asked.

"I don't know." Sandor replied, "But I'm quite sure she's rather angry about this intruder's presence. Orion said he thought she was talking to him for a while, wanting him to leave. He thought better of that once he saw the door open and found this insignia."

"If you have more time could you translate it?"

"Perhaps." Sandor nodded slowly, "but I'm better with the written word than with translating speech. Perhaps we should… ask someone more familiar with the base language."

"You're right." The captain replied.

* * *

Homer stepped through the door to the Captain's cabin, fidgeting nervously. "H – hello Captain, Sandor." He nodded to his superiors and saluted.

"At ease, Homer." The Captain motioned to an empty chair, "Please, sit."

"Yes, Sir." Homer obeyed. "Has – has something happened?"

"Yes." Sandor replied bluntly.

"Oh no…" Homer leaned over and put his face in his hands, "I didn't tell them to do it, I promise." he sounded rather desperate, "It was Hardy's idea to inflate the life raft in Conroy's fighter. He just told me about it afterwards! I didn't know anyth – "

"Homer." Sandor stopped the communications chief, "This isn't about that. Though why Hardy decided to do something that juvenile is a something we may ask him later. This is about something much more… serious."

There was silence for a moment while Homer registered everything that the XO had just said.

"Oh… Right…" Homer cleared his throat looking sheepish, "What's going on?"

"We need you to tell us what this woman is saying." Sandor brought up the security footage and started to play it.

Homer stared at the video for a long moment, then pointed at the woman and stuttered, "Wh – who is that?"

"That is Starsha." Sandor said, "Starsha of Iscandar."

"What?! What's _she_ doing here? _How_ is she here? What's going on?!" Homer's questions ran together, then he said in genuine awe, "She's… beautiful…"

"We don't know the answers to any of those questions either, Homer. That's why you're here. We need you to tell us what she's saying so that we can better understand what's happened." Sandor replied, trying to calm the excitable man down just a bit. "Now, can you help us?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Homer nodded, his knee bouncing up and down so fast it was making the deck vibrate.

Sandor rewound the footage to the same point he'd started from and let it play again. This time Homer concentrated on the words, at times making faces at the woman's speech.

"Wow…" Homer finally said once the recording was over. "She was mad."

"About what?" Sandor asked.

"She told someone to leave and that he wasn't welcome here on the ship."

"How unwelcome were they?"

"'He'." Homer corrected, "It was most certainly a man she was talking to. And she said that if he hurt anyone on this ship that he wouldn't see another day in this world." Homer looked from Sandor to the Captain and back, "I'm glad she's on our side."

"So are we, Homer." The Captain nodded, "Thank you."

* * *

"Captain! She knows!" the chosen spy gasped as he ran onto the bridge of the ship. "She could see me – somehow!"

"It was inevitable…" the captain said, his voice low, eyes darker than usual. "We must not return to the ship… She will know and it will be the end of us… Though she is not here she somehow wields a power we do not." the captain crossed his arms and glared at the Eratite ship sailing on before them. "But do not think this is the last time we will board you, my friends." He smirked at the ship. "One woman is no threat to me."

* * *

Starsha collapsed onto her bed, all the energy of the moment drained from her by the sight of the man she'd seen aboard the Eratite ship. How had he gotten there? What was going on?

Every possibility ran through her head and she liked none of them, but the one she liked least was unfortunately the most likely, especially in light of the strange insignia that the man had borne.

"She's back…" Starsha whispered, "The Malha has come out from hiding."

A shiver ran through her as she remembered her own encounter with the shêd-bearer. When she was a young girl, the Malha had kidnapped her and held her for ransom – a ransom of blood. The Queen Talonka herself had paid that ransom in full, leaving Gamilon queenless and her family in despair. Her son, Leader Desslok, had never forgotten Talonka's murder and though he had banished the Malha and her followers from his world, the Malha still had a hold on his heart in the form of deep bitterness.

Starsha remembered the day she'd found out that Talonka had traded her life for Starsha's. Masterson had relayed the entire event to her. It had been the hardest thing she'd ever heard.

Now that the threat of the Malha had so suddenly reappeared she knew of only one thing to do.

"Yahweh," she prayed, "Protect them from the death that stalks them."

* * *

**Note to all readers: **

**If you're ever wondering when the next piece of the story will be posted, be sure to check my profile page to find out about that, as well as future books planned for this saga and other interesting news.**


	20. Episode 18: Taking Pluto

**Episode 18: Taking Pluto**

"We've lost time, time we have to make up as quickly as possible." Avatar looked at each of his officers grimly. "By now I'm sure you all have heard about the incidents of last night. There are rumors of a malfunction in the computer mainframe, but that is not the case. We had an intruder on board this ship."

A chorus of disbelief erupted in the operations room.

"Are they still here?" Mark asked, clearly shaken.

"No, we don't believe so." Sandor replied.

"Don't 'believe' so?" Chris Eager asked in his southern American drawl. "Shouldn't we 'know' so?"

"We're doing everything we can to find out how and when they boarded us." Sandor assured, "But until then, all doors will be keyed to retinal patterns instead of movement; just as before, you will be able to lock the doors to your quarters by combination and handprint. I know many of you leave your doors unlocked, but I would caution you all to start locking your doors, at least while you sleep."

All nodded, then Mark asked cautiously, "Why do you think it's possible they've left?"

Homer chuckled to himself off in the corner and Orion looked down at the gigantic vid screen imbedded in the floor.

At this, Sandor and Avatar's faces both lightened a bit and the XO replied, "We received something of a visitation from none other than Queen Starsha herself."

"Whoa – wait! Starsha was here?" Derek piped up, surprised.

"Not 'here', per se." Sandor said, "But she _was_ here in a way. From the video we have of the incident it appears that she somehow projected a hologram of herself, and she was able to see the intruder even though _we_ couldn't."

"You couldn't see them?" Wildstar asked in disbelief, "So that's why you don't know for sure if he's gone."

"Unfortunately, yes." Sandor replied.

"So we're going to go about our business and pretend like nothing's going on when we might end up dead any second because some 'invisible man' is running around the ship as he pleases." Derek shook his head, exasperated.

"Would you stay on a strange ship if its guardian threatened your life?" Sandor asked Derek, looking the young man straight in the eye.

"No…" Wildstar said, not sure where Sandor was going with such a question.

Sandor took a breath and said, "We didn't know it until now, but it appears we've been afforded a guardian in Starsha. We heard her threaten our intruder."

"And you understood her… how?" Wildstar asked, still skeptical.

Sandor's eyes darted to Homer and back to Wildstar before he answered, "We have a way of translating the bulk of her language."

Wildstar shrugged, "Okay, so if he's smart, he left. What if he's not that smart?"

"And that's why we've put the extra security measures in place." Avatar interrupted, "Now we must discuss the primary reason we've called you all here. We will be performing another warp as soon as the preparations are ready. This time, our destination is Pluto-space."

This silenced everyone, even Wildstar.

"Pluto's been held by the enemy for much too long." Sandor looked at them all with purpose firmly rooted in his eyes. "The last time we were here, they took the lives of many of our own. It's time we took back what's ours and took that base from Gamilon once and for all. Their Pluto base is likely the source of most of the planet bomb activity in the recent years – ever since the frequency of the attacks increased."

There was silence for a long moment before Wildstar broke it.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Derek said, "Let's get those parasites out of our solar system!"

His sentiments were met with enthusiasm from all, except one. In the corner, Homer looked down at the floor, Wildstar's comments making him dread even more the day the crew found out about Sandor's little genetic discovery.

* * *

"Five.

"Four.

"Three.

"Two.

"One.

"Warp."

The computer countdown was just as intense and exciting as it had been the first time they'd jumped. Everyone was still new to the sensation. Even after two warps, this third one caused just as much anxiety as the first two had.

The ship warped and reappeared just outside Pluto-space, a safe distance from the planet and well outside any sensor range a base on the surface might have.

"Damage report." Said Avatar upon their reappearance into normal space.

"All systems are operating normally, Captain." Sandor replied, "The repairs we made at Titan are holding up quite well."

"Good." Avatar nodded, "Wildstar, take a Zero* down to the surface. Conroy and the rest of the squadron will be standing by to launch. Maintain radio silence until you've found the enemy base. As soon as you do, let the Tigers know and they'll join you. We don't know their weapons or their numbers. Our best weapon is surprise. They cannot know we're coming."

"Yes, Captain." Wildstar saluted sharply and ran off the bridge, headed for his plane as fast as his feet would go.

* * *

"Launch the next round of bombs." The base commander ordered.

Several small asteroids shot up out of underground launch ports and were grabbed by tractor beams before they flew off into the atmosphere.

"Charge them."

A brilliant magenta beam appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It squarely hit the asteroid, causing it to go from its normal dull self to a glowing mass of radioactivity.

"Input trajectory corrections and launch."

The tech in charge of bomb prep tapped in the proper coordinates and sent the rain of death on its way towards Erats.

"Soon we won't need these anymore." The base commander said, "Soon they'll give up and let us have their world, once they see that our force is far too superior to defeat."

"Yes, Sir." The tech echoed.

"Begin the diagnostics on the satellites. We want them operating at peak condition when General Lysis arrives."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

"Wow, this place is uglier than the backside of a camel." Wildstar said to himself as he flew silently over the rugged Plutonian terrain, looking carefully for any sign of a Gamilon base. Thus far he'd been out for two hours with no success.

He continued on and on, over hills and valleys, staying as low as he could. After a while everything started to look the same – dull and gray. He was just about to give up and turn around to head to a different area when he saw a flash off to his right.

He waited to see if it would come again or if it had just been his imagination wanting to see something that wasn't there, or just a reflection off his helmet visor.

Twenty seconds later the flash appeared again, coming from the same place.

Immediately, Wildstar went to investigate, keeping an eye out for any more flashes as he went.

There were three more, then nothing, all from the same direction as the first two.

He flew straight towards the location, looking intently for any sign of the base he was now sure was there. Somewhere.

He flew on and on, waiting for another flash, a sign of life, a building – something, but he found nothing.

"_What's going on here?"_ he thought, then circled the area several times, confused. _"There's _something _here. I _saw_ it."_ He flew back the way he'd come and waited, hoping to see another flash like the ones he'd seen before.

He waited a full twenty minutes without seeing another thing.

He pounded his fist into the metal plating, _"Where are you?!"_

He stared at the barren wilderness before him again for a very long time, willing the flash of light to appear again. But it didn't.

He hung his head in defeat and circled back to return to the ship. His fuel was getting dangerously low. He'd already tapped into his reserve fuel and he didn't want to have to call for a pickup because he wasn't responsible enough to pay attention to his gauges.

He was turning his Zero around when he thought he saw something again.

He jerked his head around to look back. Just as he did another flash flew through the sky – coming from nowhere.

He looked back at his fuel gauge and winced. He couldn't stay any longer.

All the way back to the ship he pushed his plane as fast as it would safely go. Upon landing he didn't even wait to leave the Zero before tapping into the ship's com system to tell the Captain what he'd seen.

"We were beginning to think you'd gotten lost, Wildstar." Sandor said over the comm.

"It's there, I know it is." Wildstar replied, frustrated.

"You were supposed to radio Conroy when you found it." Sandor said.

"I would have, but all I saw were flashes of light. Nothing Conroy could go on."

"Fuel back up and go back out. Note the coordinates of the flashes as well as you can, then find a safe place to land and hold your position until you receive further orders." Avatar ordered.

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

"Sir, we have something on the radar." The tech announced, "It appears to be a fighter – not one of ours."

"Cease all activity. Halt the asteroid launch until I give the word."

"Yes, Sir."

"Is it Cometine?"

"No, it appears to be –" the tech squinted at his screen, making sure he wasn't reading it wrong, "It's Eratite, Sir."

"Eratite? Contact the outer perimeter defenses immediately. I want a thorough search of this planet's orbit and surrounding space."

"The order is sent, Sir."

"Notify me when we've received word."

"Yes, Sir."

The commander stayed in the control center, staring out into the darkness of the underground caverns they occupied. He waited, his eyes blank, his thoughts on the strange sudden appearance of this Eratite vessel.

"Sir, the fighter is leaving."

"Good." The commander nodded. Any news from the perimeter guard?"

"Yes. The report just came in. There is a confirmed sighting of the Eratite battleship we've heard about in reports. It's just inside Pluto space. They appear to be moving slowly towards the planet."

There was a moment of silence, then the tech suddenly exclaimed, "We have an incoming message. It's from General Lysis."

"He's here? He wasn't scheduled to arrive for another three days." The commander said, starting to feel just the slightest bit of panic.

"He isn't here yet, Sir. He's requesting a report. What shall I tell him?"

The base commander's anxiety eased and he thought about his response for a moment then said, "Tell him we have the Eratite ship here and wish to bring it down. Ask him for his recommendation on this course of action."

"Yes, Sir."

The tech sent the message and waited for a response. It came a few minutes later.

"Sir, he recommends that we 'make full use of our resources.' He says that our reflection satellite system may be of great use."

"Ah… of course…" the commander smirked, "Resume the asteroid launch."

"But sir, they'll see us." The tech protested.

"Exactly. Once they're close enough, we'll use the satellites to our advantage. They won't even know what's hit them until it's too late."

"I see, Sir. A very clever move." The tech replied, delighted that he would be able to do something other than toss asteroids in the air and turn them into glowing balls.

"Indeed. General Lysis is a man to be reckoned with."

* * *

"_There it is again!" _Wildstar thought as he flew back to the spot he'd been before, his plane freshly refueled and the promise of help coming if he should be able to pinpoint the location of this elusive base.

Another flash came into view, but this time, Wildstar saw something ignite up towards the atmosphere. He stared up into the sky. Suddenly another flash came and ignited another object.

Derek pulled out a small pair of binoculars and stared at the burning thing.

"Planet bombs?!" he exclaimed, then cursed again this horrific enemy who would send out such a rain of death on an innocent world, killing millions including his own parents.

"_How can anyone be so barbaric…?"_ he tucked the binoculars back into their holster and fixed his eyes on the place he just knew had to be where the enemy lay hidden.

He gritted his teeth and sent the coordinates back to the _Argo_. _"We're coming for you, Gamilon scum! And you won't know what hit you when we do."_

* * *

_Argo_ slowly moved in on Pluto, careful to stay in a wide orbit. The coordinates Wildstar had sent them were slowly rotating into view.

"Anything on radar?" Avatar asked.

"Not yet, Sir." Nova replied.

"_Where are they?"_ Captain Avatar thought as he stared out the front viewport, waiting for the strange flashes Wildstar had reported seeing, but there was nothing.

He looked away for a moment.

"Captain, there's a surge of energy headed toward us! Coming in fast at nine o'clock!" Nova exclaimed.

"Evasive –" Avatar was cut off by the sudden explosion that ripped into the ship.

"Damage report!" Avatar barked, discreetly holding his side and trying not to wince. He felt something wet beneath his white-gloved hand and knew he would soon feel the effects of the sudden jarring.

"Damage to the lower decks and the recon plane launch pad is out of commission." Sandor replied.

"Where did that shot come from?" Avatar questioned.

"It became visible directly off our port side. Before that, I have no data." Nova replied.

"Was there a flash before the surge appeared?"

"No, nothing." Nova replied.

"Captain, another surge at nine o'clock!"

"Evasive maneuvers!"

This time Mark managed to evade the surge in time.

"Move the ship to the other side of Pluto." Avatar ordered. "Get us out of here."

"Yes, Sir." Mark immediately steered the ship away from the area and around the planet.

"Find a place to hide the ship and get some repair crews out to get any critical systems back up. And repair that launch pad." Avatar ordered.

Mark found a place as far away from the other side of Pluto as possible and put the ship in synchronic orbit, making sure that the place Wildstar had found wasn't coming near them anytime soon.

The repair crews were sent out as soon as it was deemed safe. The examination of the ship's wound took no more than twenty minutes and the critical repairs took half that time.

"Everything essential is up and running, Captain." Sandor reported, "I'm pulling the repair crew back in."

"Very good." Avatar nodded, "Keep the ship here."

With that, he ascended into his quarters, his captain's chair rising quickly up the wall and disappearing into the ceiling.

As soon as he was in his quarters, Avatar doubled over. He reached out a hand and immediately activated the emergency notification system that he had had Sandor put in his quarters in case of just such an event as this.

Dr. Sane was there within minutes. He managed, with the help of IQ-9 to get the captain into bed.

He sent the robot back to the medical bay immediately. The captain wanted to keep the severity of his condition as clandestine as possible, which meant that even IQ couldn't know the full extent of it. They'd gone so far as to lock the robot out of that area of the computer. So far, only Sandor and Dr. Sane knew exactly how bad the situation really was.

He peeled back the captain's black peacoat and white shirt and undershirt, the crisp white now soaked in crimson blood.

Sane bit back an exclamation of horror, and managed to hold in all but a loud hiss. He stopped the bleeding as quickly as he could and applied a medicated dressing before binding the wound again.

"You should be dead, you old coot!" he scolded Avatar.

"I know, Sado." The captain replied weakly. "But these young ones need me for a while longer."

"And you're willing to kill yourself to do that?!"

Avatar looked Dr. Sane in the eye, "If need be. Yes. You know that."

"Abraham, this journey _will_ kill you." The old doctor replied, his face completely sober.

"I know, my friend. I only hope that I might see the Earth one last time before then."

"Give your candidate a deputy captain's position."

"He is not ready." Avatar replied, "I will not lay that responsibility on him until the time is right."

"Alright…" Sane acquiesced, "But you are on bed rest until that wound heals some more."

Avatar chuckled, "Sado, you know it will never heal…"

"If you can hope, so can I." Dr. Sane's brow furrowed in sadness, knowing that he was only lying to himself if he thought the captain's condition would improve.

* * *

"The captain isn't feeling well." Sandor announced, "In his absence I will be overseeing our operation."

"Is he alright?" Nova asked, concern in her eyes.

Sandor didn't answer for a moment, "He is as well as he can be at the moment."

Nova saw the hesitancy in the XO's face and didn't push any farther.

"Take us back to the coordinates Wildstar gave us." Sandor ordered. "We must eliminate the enemy's presence here."

"Yes, Sir." Mark replied, thoughts of his brother and parents coming to his mind.

Those thoughts were short-lived.

"Energy surge at six o'clock!" Nova exclaimed.

Mark immediately reacted, trying to move the ship out of harm's way. He thought he's succeeded, but the explosion and violent jolt through the ship told him otherwise.

"We've been hit!" Nova's voice came again.

"Where are they coming from?!" Mark exclaimed, frustrated. "They can't just be appearing out of nowhere!"

"Any sign of ships in the area?" Sandor asked Nova.

"No, none." She said. "We've seen evidence of several small ships much farther out towards Neptune, but none close enough or large enough to be doing this sort of damage. All indications were that the ships we've passed weren't even manned."

"We _have_ to find out where those –" he was about to spout a rather derogatory label when he saw Nova glaring at him, "Where the enemy is hiding."

"We must wait –" Sandor started to say.

"Go and find them." A gravelly voice ordered from the back of the bridge.

"Captain?!" Sandor whirled around in his chair, stunned, "But you're –"

"I'm fine." The old captain asserted. "Now go and meet up with Wildstar on the surface. We've taken damage, but not enough to send us crawling away in defeat. No, it will take much more than this to sink this proud ship." The captain's eyes were filled with a fire the Sandor had not seen in him for some time.

"Yes, Sir." Sandor nodded, "Dash, Forrester. You're with me." He looked around the bridge, noting the looks of reservation on many faces. "The enemy has held this planet for much too long. Today, we change that."

Though there were no cheers of praise for his words, Sandor did see some of the fear melt away from his fellow officers' faces, and that was more than enough for him.

* * *

**Episode 18 Notes:**

* Zero – The lead Cosmo Tiger plane, painted gray and red instead of the signature black and gold


	21. Episode 19: The Reflex Gun

**Episode 19: The Reflex Gun**

"Nothing else yet." Nova said, looking intently at the small ship's radar aboard the recon plane _Seagull_. "From what we've seen so far though, we won't get anything on the radar to begin with. It's hidden somewhere our equipment can't register it."

"Just keep a look out." Dash replied, concentrating on the rough terrain racing by. They were almost to Wildstar's position. Once there, they would join him and watch for the flashes of light Derek had seen.

"Here we are." Dash said as he slowed _Seagull_ and landed her next to Derek's Zero.

Everyone disembarked and Derek was there to meet them.

"See anything on the way here?" Wildstar asked when Dash, Sandor and Nova were all out.

"Once." Nova replied, "A few minutes ago we saw the same flash you reported. Two of them hit the ship while you were down here waiting."

"Is the ship alright?" Wildstar asked, surprised.

"She's fine now." Sandor replied, "But we can't risk too many more hits like the two she's already taken. The oddest thing about the encounter was that the second hit came when we were on the other side of Pluto."

"Maybe there's more than one base." Wildstar replied.

"Perhaps." Sandor said, "But we saw no source for the energy surges. If there are multiple bases, none of them are on the other side of the planet."

"There has to be some kind of relay system then." Wildstar offered.

"That was my thought as well." Sandor agreed, "There is no other way for the energy surges to appear as they did. Unless they've found a way to cloak their ships like our intruder cloaked himself."

"Let's hope that isn't the case." Nova put in, "Or else we may be in much deeper trouble than we already are."

"Yeah, really." Dash said wryly. "Let's find these guys and get outta here."

Derek began, "There haven't been any more –"

"There!" Nova exclaimed, her finger pointing at something that was already gone. "There was another one! That way! Is that where they've been coming from?" She asked Derek.

"Yeah, same direction." He affirmed, then his eyes grew fiery, "Whatever it is, it's what they've been using to charge the planet bombs before they launch them. We've _got_ to take this thing out."

"Now that we have a good bearing, let's go. Follow the _Seagull_, Wildstar. We have more sensor equipment than you do. Once we find anything promising, we'll land and check it out, but we have to go quickly. The longer we stay out here, the more damage the _Argo _is taking." Sandor ordered them all back into their respective craft.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Wildstar stopped Sandor.

"_Argo_ is acting as bait, to keep that weapon firing so we can find it."

Wildstar's eyes widened, "Let's get outta here then." He hopped into his plane and sealed the cockpit, ready to take off before the _Seagull_'s hatch was sealed.

They flew for what seemed like an eternity. Nova felt the fatigue the most as she was watching most of the sensor arrays, trying to find even the barest hint of something useful. Finally, she found something.

"There's a heat signature coming from several hundred meters ahead." Nova said.

"Very good, Miss Forrester." Sandor nodded in approval.

_Seagull _and the lone Zero zoomed on towards the spot Nova had found.

"What's that?" Dash asked, looking down at the ground at something black that didn't resemble any of the rocks they'd seen during their flight.

Sandor looked down at the ground, "Exhaust vents." He supplied, "They're underground. That's why we haven't seen them."

"At least we know they're not cloaked." Nova said, relieved.

"True," Sandor said, "But those vents are most likely for the excess heat caused by those energy surges. If we get caught in there during a surge that will be the end for us."

"Nice and crispy." Dash quipped.

"Take us down." Sandor ordered.

The _Seagull _landed, followed closely by Wildstar in his fighter.

"Oh, exhaust vents," Wildstar said as he hopped out of his plane, "Lovely."

"Watch for another energy surge." Sandor instructed. "As soon as anyone sees one, say so. We'll wait for the hot air to escape the vents and then go in."

Everyone looked up in a different direction, waiting for the bright flash that meant their comrades were taking another pummeling for them.

"There!" Dash saw it this time.

Fifteen seconds later a mass of hot air spewed out of the vents.

Immediately they all scrambled into the vent, being careful not to damage their EVA suits.

"These are heat-resistant to a point, but we can't get caught in one of those air streams. If we do, whoever bears the brunt of it will likely die from the extreme heat," Sandor said as he led the small pack down the vent. As he went, he stopped periodically to knock on the walls of the vent.

Finally he must have found what he was looking for because he stopped and pulled something out of his suit pocket and started drawing a glowing circle on the wall.

They didn't realize what he was doing until he kicked the circle he'd drawn. The metal piece fell away to reveal another tunnel, this one clearly not part of the vent system, for which they were all thankful.

"Let's go." Sandor motioned for them all to go through the fresh hole.

They dove through quickly as the heat sensors on their suits began to protest. Another surge was coming.

Sandor jumped through the hole just as the blast of air whooshed by, sending his suit's alarms blaring in his ears, but the heat disappeared quickly and the alarms quieted, though his suit had sustained some damage from the blast and he had a slow leak in the seam of his left leg.

He sealed off that part of suit and pulled out a small device. He studied the screen for a few seconds, then pointed, "The energy reading is strongest this way."

Sandor moved to lead the pack again.

Derek looked down at the ground, trying to figure out what kind of passageway they'd landed in now. Sandor passed him and Derek's brow furrowed when he saw a small hole opening in Sandor's suit leg.

He reached out to stop the XO, "Sandor, your –" he pointed to the opening.

"Don't worry about it, Wildstar." Sandor skirted around the questions he knew Derek was going to ask.

"But, Sandor –"

"I said, don't worry about it. It isn't a problem." Sandor insisted as he brushed past Wildstar and kept going, the rest following him. No one else had noticed the breach in their leader's suit.

* * *

"Get us out of here, Venture!" Avatar ordered. "Take us to the surface."

Mark sent the ship into a quick descent, dodging another energy surge in the process.

They flew low over the surface, staying just high enough to avoid crashing into any hills or mountains. They thought they'd finally gotten off the enemy's radar when yet another explosion wracked the ship.

"The main engine's been damaged, Captain!" Orion announced. "We can't go on like this."

"_Just a little longer."_ Thought Avatar, "Eager, is there a sea or a lake anywhere near here?"

"One small sea, but it's iced over."

"Give Venture the coordinates." The captain said.

"Yes, Sir." Eager sent Mark the location he'd found.

"Take us down, Venture."

"Aye, Sir." The navigator changed course and pushed the ship as fast as she would go towards the body of frozen water. Once there, he let the ship hover over the surface just long enough to melt some of the thick ice, then he took her down.

Ice cracked and creaked under them, then with a great groan it gave way under the massive weight of the old battleship.

"Break up the ice around us as much as possible." The captain ordered. "Orion, get to the engine room."

"Aye, Sir," Orion left the bridge faster than any of them had ever seen the old engineer move before.

"Captain!" Eager exclaimed, "Energy surge at six o'clock!"

"Submerge the ship." Avatar ordered.

Mark thought the order strange, but obeyed quickly and sent the _Argo_ diving beneath the waves.

There was no explosion of impact.

"What happened to the surge?" Mark asked.

"Didn't make it through the water." Eager answered.

Mark breathed a sigh of relief; "All we have to do is sit tight then, right?" he turned to look at the captain.

"We cannot be sure the Sandor and his team have found the enemy base yet, and until we _are_ sure, we can't stay here forever."

"Captain, our reserve oxygen tanks have been damaged," Eager relayed, "We can only stay submerged for a total of twenty minutes."

"It will have to be enough." Avatar replied, "Engine room." He paged the crew on duty down in the depths of the ship.

"Yes, Captain." One of the engineers replied.

"You have Ten minutes to do as much as you can to repair the engine before we have to surface again."

"Yes, Captain," came the dismayed answer, "We'll do what we can, Sir."

"Eager, keep an eye on that radar, and Venture, be ready to surface on my command."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

"We're close." Sandor said several minutes later as he stared at that device he'd brought – one of his inventions he'd put together over the past several weeks onboard ship. Suddenly he stopped in front of a door with odd symbols on it. "We're here." He tucked the device back into his pocket and studied the door.

"_Something about a 'reflection system'?"_ Sandor thought, puzzled as he read bits of the symbols on the door.

"Hey, that looks familiar." Derek piped up, pointing at the symbols.

"Yeah, it's like the inscriptions you guys recorded at that tomb back on the floating continent." Dash supplied.

"No – it's something else. Like I've seen writing like that before." Derek insisted.

Every muscle in Sandor's body suddenly tensed, "Focus on what we're here for, Wildstar." He said as he rigged the control panel on the door to let them through.

The portal hissed open. "We're in." Sandor said, pulling his device back out and pushing a few buttons before deeming the entryway and the area beyond safe.

"What is _that_?" Wildstar pointed at the strange weapon at the end of the gigantic room, dumbfounded at the sight.

The weapon was the strangest they'd ever seen. It looked something like a gigantic budding rose. The end of it was a rounded crimson crystal that glowed as they watched. It was supported by a dark green stem which connected to the base of the weapon. The thing looked like it could move to adjust its firing angle, much like the guns onboard _Argo._

"What's the ceiling made of?" Wildstar asked, looking askance at the roof.

"Energy." Sandor replied. "A force field appears to be holding back the water that surrounds this area."

"So the only thing between us and icy death is some flimsy energy shield?" Wildstar asked.

"That would be an accurate assessment." Sandor replied, starting towards the weapon. "So I suggest we set these charges and leave as fast as we can."

"Yeah, let's do that." Wildstar scrambled to follow the XO and he and Dash helped set the explosives they'd brought along while Nova kept watch at the door for any unwanted visitors.

"We're done!" Wildstar announced, "Now let's get out of here," he hopped down from the weapon's base and quickly crossed the distance between it and the door. Sandor was right behind him, followed by Dash.

The four left as fast as they could and took another route back to the surface as the timers on the explosives counted down from twelve minutes.

* * *

"Take us up." Avatar ordered after receiving word mere seconds ago that the engineering team had made some progress on the engine repairs. _"It will have to be enough for now. We don't have enough oxygen to spare to stay down here any longer."_ He thought as the ship rose through the freezing water and broke the surface.

"Energy surge at three o'clock!" Eager exclaimed, "How did they find us so fast?"

"They never lost us." Avatar said quietly, then ordered, "Take us back down, now!"

Mark obeyed, sending the ship down again, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid all of the blast and the ship shook and groaned in agony as its starboard side was ripped open.

"Evacuate the affected areas and raise the bulkheads to stop oxygen loss and flooding." The Captain said even as they descended into the ocean again."

"Captain, we only have a few minutes left down here." Orion's voice came over the comm from the engine room. "We lost some of our oxygen reserve in that last explosion."

"How much time do we have?" the captain asked.

"Two minutes." Orion replied.

"Then we will stay down as long as we can." The captain declared, then he looked at Venture, "But be ready to surface as soon as I give the order."

"Aye, Sir."

The bridge crew sat in silence, the water around them seemed to roar as they floated silently in the darkness. Everyone felt like they'd been swallowed by a tomb and were sinking down into the silent earth never to see the sun again.

Suddenly the order came. "Take us up!"

Venture eagerly sent the ship back to the surface, hoping that Sandor and his group had finally been able to destroy this dreaded weapon.

He hoped in vain. Not ten seconds after they emerged from the roiling water, another surge sped right towards them and slammed right into the _Argo_'s already heavily damaged stern.

With a final groan, the ship went down, and despite anything Venture did to stop it, the _Argo_ sank of her own accord, having taken all the punishment she could for her crew before rolling over and landing upside down on the bottom of the Pluto sea.

* * *

"Sandor, did you see that?" Wildstar broke radio silence.

"Wildstar, maintain radio silence." Sandor replied with his usual calm.

"But I saw something! It looked like a ship. I think their relay system is in Pluto's atmosphere and orbit!"

Sandor didn't respond right away and Wildstar thought the XO was ignoring him.

"You are correct Wildstar. Your sensor data verifies your sighting. Find that ship and disable it."

"Alright!" Wildstar whooped, happy to be back in action.

Derek shot off towards where he'd seen the strange thing. He soon found it and discovered that it wasn't a ship at all but a satellite with reflective plating.

"_What on earth _is _this thing?" _ he thought, circling it once to get sensor data he knew Sandor would want, then he blew the satellite out of the sky. _"If there's one, there's bound to be more."_ He thought, then zoomed away towards the _Argo's _last known location, along the way he shot down two more satellites and as he approached the ship's location he was horrified to see another satellite pointed down at a bare patch of water, the _Argo_ nowhere in sight.

He took aim and fired at the thing, causing a rain of debris to shower down into the cold water.

"_Where are you…?"_ he thought, his mind racing. He checked his sensors and was in shock when the instruments said that the ship was right below him, submerged, perhaps never to rise again.

* * *

"Commander, we've done it. We've sunk the mighty Eratite ship." The tech said in triumph.

"So it would appear." The commander replied, "Send out _Choshek Dagah.*_ They'll finish them once and for all."

The commander was about to order the tech to send a good report to Lysis when the entire base was rocked by a giant explosion.

"What was that?!" the commander shouted in surprise.

"Nahalor* has exploded! The field around it collapsed; water is rushing into the base." The tech frantically started pushing buttons, sealing off areas of the base that were already under water. "We have to get out of here!"

The commander stood silently, then crossed his arms and bowed his head, "It's too late." He looked up at the terrified tech, "We underestimated them, and they've won."

Just then the full force of Pluto's sea crashed in on the control room and sent its occupants into oblivion.

* * *

The explosion blossomed into the air. It was the sweetest thing Wildstar had ever seen and he felt a sense of accomplishment watching the weapon that had so wounded his ship being blown to smithereens.

"_Argo_!" he tried to raise the sunken ship on the radio, _"Argo, _come in!"

There was no answer.

* * *

"They are in great danger Adrianna," Queen Starsha said sadly to her Jeshurunian companion. "The engine itself calls to me in pain," she held out her hand, on it was a strange glove dotted with holes – an Interface the Iscandarians had called it. It allowed Starsha to communicate with anyone who also possessed an Interface, or to tap into machines with the Interface technology built into them. Before she had sent the engine core to the Eratites Starsha had found a way to allow herself access to the Eratite ship's systems as needed. When they had installed the engine core, everything had opened to her. Her only limitation was that she could not always see what was going on except in dire need. Thus far, she had seen the crew three times, and she was sure she would see them many more times before their journey was over.

The Interface activated.

"Do you wish to connect?" the device asked in its signature monotone.

"Connect to the Eratite engine core module." Starsha ordered.

"Connection established. Please input desired instructions."

"What is the ship's status?" Starsha asked.

"The _Argo_ is at the bottom of a body of water, unable to rise on her own. Her engines are functioning at minimal capacity and her reserve oxygen is gone. The crew are in protective environmental suits."

"How much power do they need?" Starsha asked.

The interface displayed a number - a large number.

The young queen thought for a moment, then rushed to the palace's crystal basement faster than she ever had in her life. Once there she rushed to the center of the room and laid her gloved hand on one gigantic glowing crystal.

"Restart the ship's systems. Correct everything that can be fixed remotely and send them the power they need." She instructed.

"This operation is unsafe." The machine counselled.

"Do it anyway." She ordered, knowing that there was no time to spare if the Eratite ship, "_Argo_" as she now knew it, was to be resurrected.

"System restart initiated. Energy transfer in progress."

Starsha felt the heat of the energy as it coursed through her one small hand and across many thousands of light-years to a ship in great distress, a ship she wanted very much to come to safe harbor in the Sea of Iscandar.

* * *

**Episode 19 Notes:**

* _Choshek Dagah _– literally "fish of darkness", a submarine_  
_* Nahalor – literally "guide of the light," more commonly known as "the reflex gun"


	22. Episode 20: The Touch of a Stranger

**Episode 20: The Touch of a Stranger**

It felt like her hand was burning. The Interface was getting so hot that she could barely stand it, but she had to hold on for just a little bit longer. The Eratites needed this power more than anything else right now.

"Transfer complete." The Interface announced.

Starsha let out a long breath and dropped to her knees. A heavy fatigue settled on her and her head felt like it was swimming in circles for a moment. She took slow, deep breaths, trying to recover from the great effort of the energy transfer.

"Status." She managed to ask.

"The Eratite ship engines have been replenished."

"Good…" she breathed, "Thanks be to Yahweh…" then she asked, "May I see the ship again?"

"The engine core is not currently transmitting video or image data."

Starsha nodded, _"Good. Though they are battered and weary, they are safe again."_

She raised her face to the ceiling and let herself relax a bit, sighing heavily. The light from the sun shone through the transparent palace walls and glittered everywhere she looked. Iscandar's people had been a race that saw much beauty in their world and they sought to capture that beauty in their architecture. The palace was only one of many manifestations of that ideal.

The gigantic crystalline form that the queen knelt before was the main source of power for the Iscandari palace. Many smaller crystals strewn around the palace grounds fed the central crystal energy from the world's sun and so provided an infinitely renewable energy source.

The power she had just given to the _Argo_ would be renewed within minutes. The power crystal could withstand many more transfers of even greater magnitude than the one she had just completed, but she didn't know if _she_ could. She prayed she didn't have to do it again, but if she had to, she would, no matter what the cost might be to her.

Starsha slowly got up and walked to a nearby bench.

She smiled sadly as she sat down, remembering a time years ago when she had first used the very Interface that was on her hand as she had sat on this same bench. The Iscandari Historian Lazarus had just passed on the title to the one she found most promising for the position, the princess Starsha.

During that time in her life she had looked forward to a comfortable Regency beside her sister Astra who was to rule as queen. The two young women would rely heavily on the advice of their parents, King Alexander and Queen Kara, but that comfortable existence had been rocked by the devastation that had followed. The great plague that had swept Iscandar and killed everyone save Starsha and Astra left the world desolate and the sisters determined not to let Erats suffer the horrors that their own home had.

Having finally caught her breath from the transfer she stood and turned to ascend to her quarters, but what she saw made her take in a sharp breath. Standing there at the bottom of the stairs was one of the men she'd rescued from the wreckage in the Sea of Iscandar. He looked at her quizzically with his tired brown eyes and she wondered exactly how much he'd seen.

"What are you doing here?" she asked gently, knowing that he had no idea what she was saying.

He said something back that sounded like a question, but she couldn't tell exactly what he meant. The language barrier would be quite a problem in the coming days she was sure. She only wished there was a way to make it even just a little bit easier.

Then something dawned on her.

"Computer, load Naomi Talan's translation matrix into the Interface." Starsha ordered.

"Transfer in progress." The computer replied. Several seconds later it announced, "Transfer complete."

Then the Interface chimed in, "Loading matrix."

Starsha held out her left hand towards the stranger who was now staring at her in clear confusion.

"Matrix loaded. Please input the material you wish to translate." The device chimed.

Starsha thought a moment, then said, "I am Starsha of Iscandar."

The matrix took a couple of seconds then repeated her words in a language she couldn't understand and hoped was somewhere near intelligible for the stranger.

Her face brightened when the stranger's eyes lit up in understanding. He replied in the same odd language that the matrix had used and the Interface said back to her, "I am Alexander."

At the name Starsha's eyes began to tear up.

"That was my father's name." she replied to him without thinking.

The matrix translated and the man's face changed, then he replied, but the matrix's translation lacked something this time. "He is lost?" the Interface said.

"He died many years ago." Starsha replied, "In a plague that took the lives of my people."

Alexander was silent when he heard this and his face turned sad, "I am sorry. My father is dead as well. He died in the bombings."

"I too am sorry for your loss." Starsha replied.

There was silence between the two for a long moment as Starsha tried to think of things to say to this man whose name she had only just learned. She was spared the awkwardness when suddenly Alexander sank down onto the stairs, looking drained.

Starsha, startled instantly went to him. "Are you alright?" she asked, careful to keep the Interface out in the open so that she could use it to translate.

"Yes." He replied, "Just weak."

"Let me help you back to your room." She held out her right hand to him and he took it, using it and the stair rail to get back up. They turned to slowly go back up the stairs.

"Let's take the elevator." She suggested. As soon as she said it she saw the reluctance on his face, but he acquiesced.

"Alright." He relented.

Starsha helped him down the last few steps and across the room to the elevator.

The look on Alexander's face changed when he stepped into the alien elevator and his eyes widened when it began to rise.

"It's beautiful." He said, gazing out over the sea and mountains in the distance. The more they rose, the more he saw and the brighter his eyes grew. "It's like Erats."

Though the matrix translated the planet's name into her own language she heard the name Alexander had used, "Earth."

"Earth…" Starsha tried the word out with her own tongue. It felt strange and thick, but she managed it and earned a smile from Alexander.

"Alexander," she started to say, but he held up a hand.

"Call me Alex." He said.

"Alex." She corrected, "You look much better than you did when I found you. How are you feeling?"

He said something and the matrix said, "Gravelly."

"I don't understand." She replied, suspecting he had used some sort of idiom that the matrix didn't know.

He laughed a little, then held his side, looking like he was in pain, "Not the best." He replied again.

"At least you are on your feet. How is your friend?" she asked.

"Still in bed." Alex replied, "He's still a little delirious. I think the dehydration was harder on him."

Starsha nodded, "I will see to him when we get back to your quarters."

The rest of the ride was comprised of a series of exclamations by Alex about how beautiful Iscandar's landscape was and several hiccups by the matrix in translating the Eratite's words it was unfamiliar with, but the more they used the matrix, the more it adapted and learned. It was amazing to see the software add Alex's vocabulary to its own and provide better and better translations than it had at the bottom of the elevator.

Starsha and Alex finally made it back to the two men's quarters. As soon as she got Alex back to his bed she went to the other man and laid her hand on his forehead. He wasn't even awake but his fever seemed to be somewhat better than it had been even a few hours ago when she'd checked him. But he still had a long way to go before he would make it to the point Alex had.

"How is he?" Alex asked.

"Not good." Starsha replied, "He will need more time to recover. His body is very weak from what he endured. I only hope he has not suffered too much to recover from it."

Alex's face sobered, "He'll make it." He said, "He always was stubborn – a lot like his father I'd say. He won't let a few Gamilons kill him."

Starsha's heart hurt to hear those words. "They are not all so ruthless." She said sadly. "Some are even… compassionate." She let her mind wander to the night she had first met Leader Desslok of Gamilon. Of course, then he had simply been a strange young man who had promised her help for her people in their desperation. He had tried to give her that help, but his efforts had been too late.

Alex huffed skeptically, "Pardon me if I doubt that."

"I understand." Starsha nodded, "I will have to introduce you to some of the men and women who opposed – and still oppose – the ravaging of your homeworld. Even now there are many who work against their own government to see that the assault on your homeworld is stopped."

"It would be refreshing to meet them." Alex replied.

Starsha smiled sadly, "As soon as I've the opportunity, I'll let you speak with one Masterson Talan. He is one of the most remarkable men I have ever met from my sister-world. He opposed his own Leader's actions at the risk of his own life."

There the conversation stopped because the other man stirred and Starsha's attention immediately turned to him, hoping he would wake, but all he did was moan, his eyes shut, sweat rolling off his face and neck. She grabbed a soft rag and gently wiped some of the perspiration from his skin.

She checked the intravenous lines that were feeding him nutrition and fluids and siphoning away the portions of his intake that his system had deemed unuseful. At least he was accepting nutrition.

Starsha looked at the man, her eyes filling with tears, both for him and for the ones who had so brutalized both of these strangers for no true reason.

"Yahweh…" she prayed aloud, "Heal this one. Give him back the life that my brothers have tried to take from him."

Starsha looked at the man still unable to even rise from his bed and the tears she had been holding back suddenly spilled over.

"You speak of HaShem?" Alex's voice came to her.

She quickly wiped her tears. She hadn't realized that the Interface had tried to translate her prayer.

"You know of Him?" Starsha asked, a sudden excitement rising in her.

"HaShem?" the matrix said in translation of Alex's reply.

Again the word he said sounded strange to her, but she tried it none the less. "God."

Alex looked at her strangely, "Your language sounds familiar somehow."

Starsha returned the puzzled look. "How could that be?"

"I don't know. I didn't realize it until just now, but you sound a lot like one of the officers who works in communications at our military headquarters."

Starsha's eyes widened. Perhaps Astra had made it to Erats.

"What is her name?" she asked.

"_His_ name is Homer Glitchman."

"Oh…" Starsha sighed, "I do not know anyone by that name."

Alex chuckled, "It would surprise me if you did. He's a bit up high."

Starsha almost laughed at the translation.

Alex saw the look on her face and repeated himself a little differently, "He's easily excited."

"Oh, I see." She replied, then turned to look at the second man again. "You said his name was 'Adam'?" she asked, indicating the man she sat beside.

"Yes. He's my friend's son, and he's one of the best crewmen I have. He's been with me ever since I graduated from the Space Academy." Alex said soberly.

"You are a captain then?" Starsha asked, looking back at Alex.

"I am, though I'm sure I will never see my ship again. Gamilon made sure of that."

Starsha heard bitterness in his voice.

"You may _not_ set foot on again, but you will find another command – another fine ship. Surely Erats – Earth – has a place for you."

"But will I ever see Earth again?" he asked, and this time, his face betrayed his doubt. Suddenly Starsha realized that he had no idea what was going on in his own galaxy. How could he?

"Alex, there is something you must know." She held her left hand out and ordered, "Display the crew roster for the Eratite ship _Argo_."

Before Alex there appeared a long list of names and ranks.

"What is this?" Alex breathed as he looked at it wide-eyed. He couldn't read it, but he could at least tell what it was.

Starsha stood and walked over to the Eratite. "There is a ship." She locked eyes with Alex, "It's coming here. The crew is made up of many from your world – old and young alike have come to bring the Rophi Shamayim home to your people – to cure your home of the death that has been inflicted on it."

"What is 'Rophi Shamayim'?" Alex struggled to pronounce the long name.

"It will clear the radiation from your world and restore it to its former state."

"You can cure Erats from this?!" Alex exclaimed. "Why didn't you take it to us yourself?"

Starsha's face fell, "I would have, but there are… factors involved that you don't know about."

Alex was visibly angry now, "They had better be_ very_ good factors."

Starsha felt the man's frustration all too clearly, then she thought of something that might lift his spirits. "Interface, translate the crew roster and re-display it."

Suddenly the list before Alex melted away and reappeared.

If he could have jumped back Starsha was sure he would have. Instead, he exclaimed, "How?! What?!"

* * *

Everything was so dark. The water seemed to entomb them as they lay beneath the ice.

Avatar sat, waiting, thankful that the artificial gravity wasn't working. The ship had shut down suddenly for no apparent reason. Orion and his team were down in the engine room trying to figure out what was going on and the science team was working on the computer core at the same time in case the problem was there instead of down in the engine room.

All in all, the situation couldn't have been much worse.

"_We must get through…"_ Avatar thought, _"We must not fail."_ He remembered the confidence he'd had when the ship launched, _"We _will_ not fail."_

Suddenly all the lights came back on.

"Engine room, report." Avatar said instantly.

"I can't explain it Captain. It all just came back." Orion replied.

"Any explanation?" the captain asked.

"Nothing, Sir." Answered the engineer.

"_Are you looking out for us again, Starsha?"_ the captain smiled a little.

"Orion, run a report on the engine's system activity over the past half an hour and send it to me here on the bridge."

"Aye, Sir." Orion signed off and started running the report.

"_Argo_! Come in, _Argo_!" Derek's voice crackled so loudly through the comm that everyone around Homer could hear him.

"We're here, Wildstar." Homer replied. "What's going on up there?" Glitchman set the com system to broadcast Wildstar's words over the whole bridge.

"The enemy base is gone; I've shot down the satellites they were using to target the ship."

"Well done." Avatar said. "Orion, can the ship rise?"

"She can do it, Captain. The systems that were down before have somehow been jumpstarted again, though she still needs some work." Answered Orion. "And I've sent that report to you."

"Thank you." Avatar replied, "Venture, take us up. Wildstar, stand by for orders."

"Aye, Sir." Wildstar signed off.

"Captain, this is Sandor." The radio crackled again. "Is the ship alright? Our sensors show you on the ocean floor."

"We are now." The captain replied, "Stay with Wildstar and wait for orders."

"Yes, Sir."

Venture took the ship up through the water and into the blessedly clear sky.

Avatar glanced down at his console and opened the report Orion had sent him. He read the lines one by one, and when he came to the time index from a few minutes before the power shut down he stopped. It looked like someone had tapped into their system and restarted it manually.

He looked farther down the report and saw the authorization stamp and he knew his earlier thought had been correct.

"_So you _can_ see us, even from so far away…"_ he shook his head in wonder, _"Thank God for your farsightedness, Queen Starsha…"_ he read the rest of the report and was more stunned by what he saw. Somehow they had received a great deal of power for no real reason. _"But how did you do it…?"_

"Captain, we've surfaced." Venture's voice pulled Avatar away from the strange words he'd just digested. "Send out the repair crews." The captain ordered. "Let's make what repairs we can now while we have a moment to breathe."

Eager relayed the command and the announced, "Repair crews are being deployed now, Captain."

Then Avatar announced to the whole crew, "Congratulations. You have all been a part of this historic day. Today we drove the enemy from our solar system and stopped the rain of terror that our Earth has endured for years. Today we give our friends, our families, hope for a better day ahead. I thank you all for your courage and perseverance." With that he ended his speech and a silence filled with a rare peace settled over the bridge.

"_Thank you…"_ the captain prayed, _"Thank you for sparing us all today and for allowing us to overcome. May every one of this crew return to see a green Earth once again…"_


	23. Episode 21: Last Call Home

**Episode 21: Last Call Home**

The ship repaired once again, the _Argo_ collected Wildstar and the _Seagull_ and left Pluto-space victorious. They came to the edge of their solar system, already weary, feeling the lightyears they'd come to even get this far, but they still had so far to go and they were about to set foot in unknown space. Few Earth ships had ever gone out this far and none had returned to tell the tale. It was for that reason the captain had arranged for them to stop briefly here and take time to talk to their families for what could be the last time for some – or all – of them.

Nova stood at the door to the communications room they'd set up so that the crewmembers could spend five minutes each with their families.

"Allen, Edward." Nova read the next name on her list. A crewman stepped forward offering his ID. Nova checked it and gave it back, then let him in. "Your time starts as soon as someone answers your call. If no one picks up, you may opt to call again later today."

The crewman nodded and stepped in. The door closed after him. A little over five minutes later he emerged, eyes red, face downcast. "Thank you." He said quietly as he passed her and left to go back to his quarters.

"Amin, Nasira." She read the next name and a young woman came from the small crowd of A's in the corridor. She looked hesitant to enter after what she'd seen from her crewmate who'd gone in before her. Nova repeated her instructions and Nasira nodded, then took a deep breath and went in.

She also returned five minutes later, but instead of sadness, on her face was a smile. "My family got a good housing assignment." She whispered to Nova. "They're far away from the worst of the radiation."

Nova smiled and gave the Arab girl a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you."

Nasira left, telling her good news to some of the others she knew in line.

* * *

The mess hall was busy with activity as most of the off-duty crew milled around, taking advantage of the festive atmosphere. The KP crew had set out a variety of food and they had their choice of several drinks – all non-alcoholic of course. Risking the crew's safety wasn't on the captain's list of accomplishments for the day.

For today at least, they would eat better than the ones they'd left back on Earth.

Many were excited about the prospect of talking with their loved ones whom they hadn't seen for almost three weeks now. But Derek Wildstar wasn't among them. Instead of mingling with the rest of his off-duty shipmates, he hung back, staying in an unobtrusive corner, pretending to sip at something resembling a carbonated beverage.

He looked out over the men and women gathered and noted several. Chris Eager was talking and laughing with some of the other bridge crew including Jordan Dashell – Dash as they all called him – and Miki Saijo, one of Nova's replacements when she was off-duty or unavailable.

Eager's laugh rumbled through his generous girth, making him look something like a brown haired, freckled Santa wearing boots. Dash had to keep pushing his glasses back up on his nose every time he looked down at Eager. Then there was Miki. She was taller than Eager and thin. She always wore her dark hair down, but swept back her bangs with a well-placed headband. She was bright and pleasant.

All three of them had family of some sort, Derek knew. Eager had a sister in southern California; Dash's parents had been moved to the cities beneath Paris, and Miki's husband Seiji and young son were in Tokyo. Seiji had originally been the one designated to go on this mission, but he'd been overcome by radiation poisoning several months before the _Argo'_s launch and wasn't physically able to fulfill the post he'd been given, so his wife had gone in his stead. The same thing had happened to several other crewmembers.

Orion's son had wanted to go in his father's place, but the old man would have none of it. Orion had told Derek about the conversation. Patrick Jr. had been insistent that his father remain on Earth and Orion had looked at the young man and said, "Son, I'm not letting my friends go on this journey alone. They've got to have someone to get them outta trouble."

Derek smiled at the memory of the old man's words. He was a determined one, that Orion, and he had lived up to his words. The old-timer had seen to it that he'd done everything in his power to keep the ship up and running and _get_ it up and running if it went down.

Thinking about the engineer brought back memories of his parents, before the bombs had fallen.

Derek would have given anything to be able to talk with his parents again, even if they were sick, like Miki's husband. But he would not be enjoying that luxury today. Gamilon had taken both his father and mother without thought or care. Then they'd taken his brother with that same cruelty.

He stared out the viewport now, tired of the laity all around him. Outside lay the silent stars and many worlds he had yet to see. He only hoped that one of those worlds was Iscandar, and that he would see it someday within the next six months.

* * *

"Drago, Salvatore." Nova called the next crewman. She'd seen mixed reactions so far. Many, like crewman Allen, had emerged dejected, but many had, like Nasira, returned with words of hope and happiness from their loved ones. Peter Conroy had called his parents and younger cousin earlier and had been thrilled to learn that Corey – his cousin – had passed his entrance exams for the Academy.

Dash had received similarly good news in that his uncle and aunt – who'd raised him – were responding well to the radiation treatments they were receiving. The facility they were in was actually releasing people now that the bombs had stopped falling.

Other's had received news of the births of their children, or had been able to see grandchildren. Then there were the ones who had gotten word that their mother or father, or spouse or child had succumbed to the radiation. These had left in tears, or had had to be physically removed from the communication room and taken back to their quarters where one or more roommates was assigned to watch them and help them get back on their feet.

Nova called name after name until she came to… her own.

A sudden jolt of uncertainty ran through her and she felt like she wanted to jump for joy and throw up at the same time. What news would she hear? Was her father still alright? Was her mother still her worrying self, or had she too fallen prey to the poison spreading through the Earth?

She took a deep breath and handed her tablet over to the Chief Engineer, who would man her post until she returned.

"Have a good talk, Lass." He patted the young woman on the shoulder. She gave him a weak smile, then turned and stepped into the room. When the door closed behind her she felt like the walls were closing in. She immediately stepped back out. The pressure of going into that room alone was too much for her to bear alone. Suddenly she didn't know how some of the other crewmen and women had done it.

"_God, help me do this. I need to talk to them before I leave…"_ she prayed.

"What seems ta be the trouble?" Orion asked when Nova reappeared almost instantly.

Nova's mind raced for a minute, then she found a solution. "Will you go in with me?" she asked the old engineer. "It would make it so much easier."

Orion shrugged, "I'd be honored to go with you, Miss Forrester." Orion nodded, handing the tablet off to Conroy who'd just walked up. "Hold this, lad." Orion instructed the pilot who had no idea what was going on.

"Okay…" Conroy replied, taking the device. "Anything I need to do?"

"No, just don't lose it." Nova said, then walked back into the comm room with Orion behind her.

The door closed again and the sense of being trapped started to come over her but just then Orion said, "I can't wait to talk to my granddaughter Kathleen. She's turnin' five in a few days."

"Oh wow." Nova replied, her fear melting away. "I'm glad you'll get to see her so close to her birthday."

"Me too, lass." Orion replied, "So get to makin' your call." He pointed to the comm unit and the chair in front of it. "You haven't got all day after all." He smiled.

Nova nodded, then slowly sat down. She laid her hand on the unit's sensor.

"Forrester, Nova." The unit said, then dialed her home number.

She waited for someone to pick up, torn between wanting and not wanting one of her parents to be home. Just when she thought no one would come to the comm, she heard her mother's voice.

* * *

"What have you done?!" Alex exclaimed. He immediately regretted it as he doubled over in pain. "You've –" he held his side, groaning in agony, "you've sent my brother to – " the pain interrupted him again, "his death!"

"I don't understand." Starsha replied, moving to help, but he held up a hand to stop her from touching him.

"My brother!" he jabbed his finger angrily into the holographic list before him. "He's on that ship!" Alex's face twisted into despair. "They don't have a prayer…"

"But they do." Starsha replied, not understanding that the phrase was an idiom.

Alex looked at her like she'd completely lost her alien mind.

"How is _that_ possible?!" he exclaimed, still angry.

"I have seen the heart of that ship's captain, and many of the crew. I have been in their presence, though briefly, and I have felt the Spirit of Yahweh Himself aboard that humble vessel."

"Are you a fortuneteller or something?" Alex asked, incredulous at her words.

"Oh my, no!" Starsha replied, taken aback by the thought. "The malakhim told me I would receive Second Sight from Yahweh."

"I'm sorry – What?!" Alex's face turned from rage to disbelief.

"You… don't know of the malakhim…?" Starsha asked.

"I think they watch over children, but there comes a time when a man has to look out for himself." Alex replied, still agitated, but no longer quite as furious.

"They do watch over children, but they are so much more than that. They are the messengers of Yahweh and they do His bidding."

Alex seemed exasperated, "I have a friend who believes that, but that wasn't the part I was asking about. What is this 'Second Sight' you're talking about?" Alex hissed at the pain in his side again, then added, "And how is that even possible?"

"I see many things, Alex." Starsha replied softly, "Things that you will probably never see. They are things not of this world. I see the work of the malakhim; I see the signs of the presence of Abaddon; I sense the hearts of those I see and know…" she let out a sigh, "It is a gift… and a weight I must carry the rest of my life…" she looked away from the Eratite, "How am I to explain such a thing to anyone? You are looking at me in fear and disgust. What should I expect from anyone else?"

At this, Alex's rage began to abate and he felt a bit bad for having said what he did. He had no idea what this woman's life was like.

Suddenly he realized something else.

"Starsha… where are all the other Iscandarians…?"

Starsha looked back at him, eyes downcast, "There was a great plague… It took the lives of everyone… save my sister Astra and I."

"But why did it bypass you two?"

Starsha smiled sadly, "Let us simply say that… Yahweh has his way of preserving whom He will. The truth would be much too bizarre for you to believe."

Alex looked around the room then back at Starsha, "I've been captured by alien invaders, taken back to their homeworld, crashed on yet another planet that I've never been, and rescued by their queen. How much more strange can it get?"

Starsha nearly laughed, "If you must know, then I will tell you." She sobered as she began her tale. "Many years ago, my great-great-grandmother was given trust over a parentless child. She had no knowledge of the girl's past, or her lineage. Nothing was ever thought of it by anyone in the palace and the girl was wed to my great-grandfather when both of them were of age.

"On my fourteenth birthday my sister and I received a call from the ruler of Gamilon, one known now as Deun the Usurper."

"Why" Alex asked.

"Another long tale that I will tell you later should you wish it." Starsha replied, then went on, "Deun set his eyes on me and insisted that I become his queen. My father would have none of it. Deun was a selfish child who knew nothing of ruling much less of being a husband.

"He would not give up. It went so far that he threatened my father's life should he continue to refuse his demand…" Starsha took a deep breath, "He made good on his threat, and through some conniving I have yet to know, he released a great plague upon all of Iscandar. He had decided that should he not be able to have me, then no one would."

Alex's face twisted in disgust, "Coward."

"Perhaps so," Starsha replied, "But that was the least of my concerns at the time. One by one all of us fell prey to the disease. It turned the young into aged ones. It took the lives of them all and shortened them. The elderly died within hours. The middle-aged within weeks or months… and the young people… they fell within two years…" Starsha's eyes filled with tears as she remembered those horrific days, "I held some of the younger children as they took their last breath. Infants died in my arms and I couldn't so one thing to stop it…"

Starsha tried to see Alex's face through the tears, but couldn't, so she went on, "I discovered what the virus was doing, then by accident I discovered the secret of why my sister and I had escaped death… That parentless child who became my great-grandmother had been genetically engineered to pass a gene to my sister and I that would prevent a virus, such as the one released by Deun, from harming us." Starsha wiped the tears from her eyes, "So I have seen the work of Yahweh. He has saved me from death. Though thousands fell on ever side, death could not touch me."

Alex was silent for a long time, then he finally said, "I never imagined that anything like that could happen in this universe…" he took a sharp breath, "But how can you still trust in a God who would take your entire race…?"

"Because He took them for a purpose, Alex. I don't know what it is, and I many never know. It may be my lot to remain here on Iscandar alone for the rest of my life. If that is what Yahweh wills, then that is what I will do."

Alex shook his head slowly, "I couldn't do that…" he said, then looked up at that hated crew roster again and the fire reignited to his eyes. "So they've sent you to your death too, Stephen…" he growled, noting Sandor's name listed as the executive officer.

"Why are you so convinced of this ship's failure?" Starsha asked gently.

Alex took a slow, deep breath and replied, "Because I've seen the enemy face to face. I've fought them, given everything to see them defeated and they still took my parents, my home, my crew, my ship… They've taken everything except my brother and my life – and the one crewman who lies there… and can't even open his eyes…" Alex pointed across the room weakly, "And who knows whether he'll live or die…" Alex mustered a bit more strength and continued, "They are ruthless, and they've beaten us down every time, so why shouldn't I believe that they'll do it again? They've done the same thing to you. Can't you see that?"

Starsha brought a chair over to where Alex sat and joined him. "You should see this," she said. "Display all video and audio from the _Argo's_ journey thus far." She turned to Alex, "My sight is limited, but here you will see what I have witnessed these past weeks."

"You're watching them? Is that what you were doing down there earlier?" Alex asked.

"Not precisely…" Starsha replied, "This record will show the events that have triggered the engine core to waken."

"The engine core?" Alex asked.

"Before the ship left your Eratite kin were instructed to install the core of the message capsule I sent them. It would become the heart of the _Argo_'s engine and let me know when they were in trouble or dire need of help."

Alex's eyes were drawn to several of the images in the media listing and he enlarged them all at once. The pictures spread out before him, creating a ring of color, filled with faces he knew.

"Captain… Avatar?" Alex squinted at two of the images, making sure he was seeing clearly. "What's he – He's the captain?!" Alex's eyes widened, "How? Why?"

His eyes turned to Starsha for answers.

"I don't know." She replied, "Though I can say that he is a good leader for his crew." She brought the ship's roster up again beside the images Alex was still looking through. "His name is… Avraham…" she said quietly."

"Yes, he's Adam's father." Alex put in.

Starsha's eyes began to fill with tears again and she turned her gaze to Adam, _"Yahweh, let him see his father again… let him live to see his home healed from the death that now haunts it…"_


	24. Episode 22: Farewell to Earth

**Episode 22: Farewell to Earth; We Will Return**

"Nova! How _are_ you?" the young woman's mother's face was still lined with stress, but not desperate or any more sad than it had been when Nova left.

Orion subtly stepped out of the camera's view just before the picture cleared up enough for Nova's mother to notice his presence.

"I'm fine, how are you – and Dad?" Nova asked, looking around the room for her father.

"Right here." The man's voice echoed from behind her mother and Mr. Forrester slowly stepped around his wife so he could see his step-daughter. "You look like you're doing okay on that ship of yours."

"Yeah, it's been… good so far." She replied, "I only have five minutes, so I wanted to make sure you're alright. Are you safe?"

"We're fine, Nova." Her mother replied, placing a hand on her husband's thin shoulder. "How's the rest of the crew holding up?"

"From what I've seen, most are missing home, but that's the worst of it for now." Nova replied.

"Well, keep an eye on them, okay." Her mother's face started to fall and her voice teared up, "And take care of yourself."

"I will, Mom. Just hang in there until we get back." She turned her gaze to her father, "You too, Dad. How's your treatment going?"

"I'm home now. For some reason we've had fewer bombings lately. Gave me a better chance of recovering not having extra radiation dumped on us."

At this Nova smiled, "We took out the Gamilon base that was sending planet bombs to Earth. There won't be any more bombings, Dad."

"Best news we've had since you left." Mr. Forrester said with a thin smile. He glanced at the clock, then looked back at his step-daughter and said, "Stay safe, Nova. Come back to us."

"I will." She nodded, starting to tear up, "I love you both." She saw the timer ticking down to ten seconds. "I'll see you in a year." She waved.

"Good-bye, Nova." Her mother returned her wave and her father nodded with a smile, then the screen blacked out and her call was cut off.

"That was… hard…" Nova said softly, the tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

"Aye." Orion nodded, stepping out of the shadows, "But you did good. At least your folks are doing well, and they're eager to see you home again."

"Yes…" Nova nodded, "Yes, that's true. I just hope they're both there to greet me when I get home."

"I wouldn't worry, lass. They'll be alright. You helped get rid of that base; you gave them a better chance than they would have had otherwise."

Nova nodded again, "And for that, I'm thankful."

* * *

Derek Wildstar roamed around the ship aimlessly, waiting for the calls to be done so they could get on with their journey. He was off duty, so there was nothing for him to do on the bridge.

He thought about where he could go – other than his quarters. Mark was going on and on about getting to talk with his little brother Jordy again soon, and Wildstar wanted to steer clear of that conversation.

He didn't have many options. He could hang around the mess hall, but most of the off-duty crew were there talking about their families. He could sneak into the kitchen, but the cook would frown upon that. He'd tried it before and had been summarily kicked out with a warning not to come back or he'd find himself on potato-peeling duty for a month.

Another option was the ship's fitness center, though he didn't relish the thought of having to listen to any of the other occupants' conversations, so he passed on that option.

Suddenly he bumped into two other crewmen, both laughing and talking.

"What're you two doing?" Derek asked, annoyed, "Get back to your posts!"

"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir." They both scurried off, wondering what had gotten into their grumpy superior.

Derek trudged on, looking in vain for somewhere to go where he could be alone with his thoughts. Then an idea came to him. He turned around and started off the other way.

Hours later Nova found him sitting in the cockpit of his Zero, staring at the inactive instruments.

"It's your turn to talk to Earth, Derek." She called to him.

When she received no reply she pushed off the floor and floated up to the Zero's dock. The near-zero gravity made it much easier to move around in the hangar. It was a lot safer too since no one had to climb up to their planes, instead, they simply floated wherever they needed to go.

"Derek, what's wrong?" she asked, grabbing on to the lip of the Zero's cockpit and pulling herself towards the plane.

"I just don't." he replied.

"But that doesn't make sense." Nova replied, "Why wouldn't you want to talk to your family?"

Derek didn't reply right away, instead he just kept staring, his arms crossed defensively.

"Just leave me alone." He finally said, turning away from Nova.

"But, Derek –"

"I don't _have_ any family back on Earth – they're all dead!" he blurted, his face turned away from the woman.

Nova breathed in sharply, her hand flying up to cover her open mouth. "Oh… I'm so sorry… I didn't know…"

"Just go." Derek said quietly.

Nova nodded and whispered, "I'll let the next crewman know it's their turn…" then she propelled herself back down to the deck and left the hangar hurriedly.

* * *

Captain Avatar walked into the kitchens, looking this way and that.

"Captain." The head cook saw Avatar's entrance, "What can I do for you?"

"Oh, nothing." Avatar shook his head. What he sought wasn't here. "Thank you." He nodded to the cook and stepped back out of the KP area.

The Captain walked on and on until he came to the engine room. He stepped in and walked through the expansive room. The sounds of the gigantic engine thrumming and humming through the deck plates.

Avatar stepped over to one of the many control stations and checked the status indicators.

"Ah, Captain!" Orion's voice echoed from one of the catwalks above. "Can I help you, Sir?"

"Oh!" Avatar looked up, surprised. "No, thank you, Orion." The captain quickly glanced around the engine room, "Just checking on the engine myself for once."

"She's doin' well, Sir. Nothing unusual since she was rebooted."

"Good. Good." Avatar nodded, then turned to leave, "Keep up the good work."

Orion watched the captain leave, puzzled, _"What're you doing down here, old friend?"_

* * *

The hangar doors hissed open.

Derek didn't even look to see who it was. After all, he'd rather remain unnoticed as long as he could – preferably until the rest of the crew had had their comm time.

"Wildstar?"

The voice of Captain Avatar startled Derek and he finally glanced down.

"Come on down. I've something I want to show you." The Captain said without even looking up.

Derek slowly obeyed and climbed out of his fighter, pushing himself back down to the deck and following the captain out into the hall.

* * *

"Quite a view, isn't it?" Avatar said as he and Derek entered the captain's cabin.

The view of the stars compelled them both to stop and stare.

The captain managed to tear his gaze away from the sight long enough to invite Wildstar to take a seat.

The young man obeyed and sat. "What'd you take me here for, Captain? If I may ask." Wildstar looked at the old captain questioningly.

Avatar let a thin smile spread across his face, "You're not the only one on the ship with no one to call, Wildstar."

Suddenly the cabin door hissed open and Sandor stepped in. "Captain, we're almost ready. The only ones we have left are the crewmen who need to try to contact their families again."

"Thank you, Sandor." Avatar dismissed the XO, then once the door was closed he looked at Wildstar, "Sandor has no one either. His sister Mio died years ago in the bombings. She was his only living relative. Thomas Riggins in the medical bay has no one either. His wife died of radiation poisoning a week before we launched." Avatar stopped to take out a worn, printed photograph. He held it out to Derek, "My son and daughter." He supplied, then pointed to the young woman, "Jennifer never made it to her own high school graduation. It was hard on Adam to watch his sister suffer from the radiation. He had just entered the Academy at the time. Jen wanted so much to be able to see her brother graduate. She begged to go to the ceremony, but she… died before his second year ended. Adam met his end bravely on the same ship as your brother."

Derek couldn't think of anything to say, so he remained silent.

"Everyone aboard this ship has suffered, and _will_ suffer more before this journey is through. Don't be discouraged, Wildstar. I know you lost your brother, but you have a family in this crew. You'll find them trying, funny, even infuriating at times. But do not discount them. They'll be there when you need them to be." Avatar took the old photo back and tucked it away again, then he reached over to a short cupboard door and opened it. He reached in and withdrew a tall glass bottle filled with clear liquid and two glasses. He popped the cork on the bottle and set the glasses down on his tiny desk, then he poured until both cups were full.

"This is some of the purest water left on Earth." The captain held one of the glasses out to Wildstar who took the offered cup. "From an underground spring near my old home. Several months after the bombs started falling and the world found out that there was poison raining from the sky, countries began harvesting as much fresh water as possible. This is the last bottle from that effort."

The Captain held his glass aloft and said, "To Earth: may she become green and grow again."

The two quietly clinked their glasses and drank, sharing a moment of deep sobriety.

The cabin was quiet, the only sounds were the hummings of the ship's machinery.

Outside, the stars sat waiting for them to continue on they way.

Derek looked at them, and the longer he did, the more he felt their pull, their call to come and taste the great adventure that lay before them.

Suddenly, he felt compelled to stand and speak. With respectfully bowed head he said with surety, "We _will_ return." he looked up and into the void ahead, "Earth, we'll see you again in one year."

* * *

Orion sat down at the comm unit, nervous about what he would see. Despite his earlier declaration of confidence to Nova, he still didn't know if he was ready for this, and he suddenly understood young Miss Forrester's feelings.

He had been forced to put off his own call until now since no one had been able to answer him the first time he'd tried to call.

He hesitated for a moment, then dialed his son's home. He waited, and waited. He was just about to give up and ask the captain for another try before they left, but just then he heard the familiar voice of his older son, "Pop! Ya called!" Sean Orion's face lit up, "Maggie!" he summoned his wife who was somewhere else in the house, "It's Pop!"

"I'm comin'!" she replied, scurrying over to where Sean stood. "How are ya, Pop?" Maggie asked.

Only then did the old engineer see the signs of wear on them both. His son's face, though happy, was weary. Maggie's had thinned considerably.

"I'm fine; how're you? They been feedin' you?" Orion asked, genuinely concerned now.

"Aye." Sean nodded, "But it's gettin' harder to get enough for all four of us. The bigger your family, the harder it is. Thakfully Patrick usually stands in line for food so we don't have to." Sean laughed thinly, "What're little brothers for after all?"

"Papa, is that Grandpa?" a small voice said.

"Kathleen!" Orion exclaimed as Sean reached down and picked up his daughter. The ease with which he did so took the old man aback. "How are you?" he asked his little brown-haired granddaughter.

"I'm okay, Grandpa. A little hungry sometimes, but that's all. It's my birthday in two days." She beamed at her grandfather.

"Yes, I know." Despite his best efforts, Orion felt tears beginning to well up. "Happy early birthday. I'm sorry I can't be there, but once I get home I'll be there for as many as I can."

"I know, Grandpa. Don't worry. I'll see you when you come back." Kathleen leaned forward and blew a kiss to her grandfather.

All the adults looked at the girl sadly, knowing that there was a possibility that Kathleen would never see her grandfather ever again.

Just then the door burst open and in dashed Patrick Jr.

"Pop!" he exclaimed out of breath. "I thought you were calling later."

"I called earlier, but no one was home." Orion replied,

"Ah, that. We're applying to move because of the food shortages. They're moving people to other areas as quickly as they can, but there's still a lot of us left." Patrick replied.

Orion nodded, "A good idea." He looked at every one of his family sadly, noting the countdown had reached ten seconds. "I have to go now, but take care of my granddaughter, Sean. You too, Maggie."

"We will." They both said just before the screen went black.

The old man sat back in the chair and let his tears come. He prayed he would see his family again, and that when he did, they would be safe and sound.

* * *

After Orion finally left the comm center Mark stepped in. Like Orion he'd tried to reach his family earlier, but they hadn't been home. He hoped it wasn't because of something serious.

He placed his hand on the scanner.

"Venture, Marcus." The computer said, "Dialing."

There was a moment of silence as the computer tried to connect to Earth from this great distance.

Suddenly the timer started and an image of his family's living quarters filled the screen. On the other side of the room his little brother sat playing with a model of some kind. He couldn't see it clearly, but it looked like a ship of some sort.

"Jordy?" Mark said, trying to get the boy's attention. "Jordy?"

The boy looked around, not sur where the familiar voice of his brother had come from, then he chanced to look at the communication unit.

"Mark!" the boy dashed across the room, a smile on his face.

"Hey, little brother. What've you got there?" he asked, pointed down at the model Jordy held.

"It's the _Argo_." Jordy held it up. "I made it myself." He said proudly. "Like it?"

"I love it." Mark replied, noting the careful detail his brother had taken to ensure the ship's accuracy. The paint job was exemplary too. "Where are Mom and Dad?"

"They're out. Had to do with radiation screening or something. They're testing everyone regularly now. Even as school they had to test everyone…" Jordy looked down, "Some of the kids at school are sick now."

"I'm sorry, Jordy…" Mark replied, "Just promise me _you_ won't get sick, okay?"

"You bet." Jordy nodded. "And Mom and Dad won't either."

"_I hope not…"_ Mark thought, a feeling of dread curdling his gut as he thought about this possibility of his family being touched by the radiation the way so many others had been.

"You're worries about us, I know." Jordy interrupter his thought, "Don't be. We're okay. Just get to Iscandar and come back. We'll make it until you get here."

"You're sure?" Mark asked, starting to feel some of the optimism radiating from his brother.

"Yep." Jordy nodded firmly. "I'm sure."

"Thanks, Jordy. That helps a lot." Mark relaxed just the slightest bit.

"Oh, hey, Mom and Dad are back." Jordy started to leave the room to get his parents.

Mark glanced over at the timer. Five seconds! "No, Jordy, don't –"

Jordy disappeared and reappeared within two seconds, his parents in tow. He pointed excitedly at the screen and his parents had barely come into view before the screen went black.

Mark felt like his heart had been grabbed and crushed. The prospect of saying good-bye to his parents had been given to him and then suddenly taken away just like that and it hurt. He felt completely wrung out, _"At least I got to see Jordy…and he's okay."_ He thought, then tried to focus on that one positive thought the entire way back to his lonely bunk.

* * *

Miezella Celestella and her half-sister, Mirenel Linke sat at the council table with the rest of the Leader's advisory. Their presence was always looked upon strangely by most of the council as the sisters were markedly of a different people than the Gamilons. Even Elisa Lysis, though part Iscandarian, bore the usual blue skin tone of the Gamilon people, but Celestella and Mirenel's skin was much closer to the color of the Bolars' – the sworn enemy of Gamilon.

Celestella and Mirenel knew well the bias of the advisory council, and as such did not speak often in their meetings.

Today was no different. They sat in silence, listening, waiting and watching for anything that they needed to know or that they could ferret away for future use.

The council discussed several reports from the front-lines, including a few from Colonel Gantz, one from the Pluto outpost, and one from General Lysis.

Celestella's eyes widened just the slightest when she heard about the destruction on Pluto. The Eratites had exceeded her expectations yet again. That same feeling of dread began to rise in her again at every mention of that strange ship now hurtling towards them. And on top of that, they had somehow figured out how to construct an engine powerful enough and advanced enough to enable them to perform warps – albeit short ones, but this fact troubled her greatly. And then there was the continued silence from her Mistress, the great Malha Guardiana.*

The Malha left Gamilon some time ago, but since then Celestella had heard nothing – no news at all. She didn't know if she should be worried, or happy – worried that something ill had befallen her Mistress, or happy that she had found something worth pursuing.

As difficult as the Malha was to deal with, Celestella wished now that she were back here to guide her and Mirenel through this time.

Celestella listened to the meeting, bored. Nothing new had happened – at least, nothing that this council knew about.

She was relieved when it was over.

As soon as the dismissal was given she and her sister went back to their quarters to try to find something useful to do until the next time they were summoned by either the Leader, or his council.

Celestella approached the door to their quarters first, and just as she was about to open it, she felt a familiar chill pass over her.

"Mirenel…" she whispered to her sister.

"I know… I feel it too…" Mirenel whispered back.

Celestella took a deep breath and opened the door.

The two women stepped into the dark room and the door immediately closed behind them. "Who are you and why are you here?" Celestella asked, her voice echoing through the open space.

There was dark cackling, "Oh… I am a friend, Miezella Celestella – a friend you will be very happy to meet. I come with news… from the Malha."

Mirenel gasped, "The Malha? But she is gone. No one knows where she is."

"Not so, Mirenel Linke, for _I_ know."

"Who are you?" Celestella asked, stepping in front of her sister, just in case their visitor intended harm to them. After all, friends of the Malha tended to be unpredictable at times.

The stranger triggered one of the room's lights and it shone directly on him.

Both women's eyes widened.

"How can this be?" Celestella asked, shocked, "You were exiled with the Usurper."

"Perhaps so." He replied with a smirk, "But the laws of man are of no concern to me right now."

"Then what is?" Mirenel asked from behind her sister.

"The Malha has news for you from the planet… Guardiana."

* * *

**Episode 22 Notes:**

* Malha Guardiana – a reference from the previous two books; The Malha Aurelia Guardiana is Leader Desslok's grandmother, and the murderer of his mother, Queen Talonka of Gamilon. The Malha is the main proponent of the Cult of Guardiana who worship a demon that calls itself "Diana." The cult wrecked much havoc on Gamilon, starting rebellions and costing numberless lives in its attempts to overthrow the rightful government. Anyone suspected of being involved in the cult is now shipped off world or executed to avoid further political upheavals.


	25. Episode 23: Eye of the Enemy

**Episode 23: Eye of the Enemy**

"Prepare for warp!" the captain's voice echoed through the bridge, picking up the crew's flagging spirits and pushing them ahead, sending them onward, across the threshold of their own galaxy and out into the unknown.

Humanity had just begun to make infrequent trips out beyond Pluto when the bombardments began years ago. If it weren't for the Gamilons' intervention, who knew where Earth's people would be right now? But they hadn't had that chance, and instead of venturing out, they'd been beaten down and forced into the most remote corners of their world.

The ship warped.

Everything morphed into blurred lines and colors. The walls melted and reappeared; the floor disappeared and then came back in a different color. Faces changed, and several crewmen thought that they saw the very same people they'd spoken with not half a day ago.

Then the world righted itself again and they were out – far from Pluto and their own solar system.

Nova squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, trying to shake off the strange feeling she always had after a warp. She looked down at the radar.

"Captain! Enemy ships at twelve o'clock!" Nova's voice woke up anyone who wasn't quite alert yet after their abrupt reappearance.

"How many?"

"Six; three destroyers, a flagship, and two small carriers." Nova replied. "Their signatures match the ones from the Gamilons who've been tailing us."

"But they disappeared after Saturn." Mark protested.

"Well, they came back." Derek interjected, annoyed.

"Incoming fire." Nova said.

"Evasive maneuvers." Avatar ordered.

Mark dodged the fire as best as he could, but he didn't escape every shot and one stray bolt slammed into the ship. Even the bridge crew felt the tremor shake through the _Argo_.

"Minor damage to one of the port gun turrets." Sandor reported. "But it's still functional."

"Prepare to fire." Avatar said.

Derek made some adjustments at his terminal, "Main guns ready to fire."

"Take aim at the nearest ship and open fire."

Derek relayed the instructions to his gunnery crew and they obeyed, peppering one of the destroyers with shot after shot until finally the enemy ship exploded.

Derek was glad their weapons were better than the ones the Pluto fleet had been equipped with, thanks to the mysterious Starsha of Iscandar.

"The rest of the ships are closing in, and they're sending out fighters." Nova looked back at the captain as she said it.

"Are there any nearby planets, planetoids, asteroids? Anything we could put between us and them?" Avatar asked Forrester.

She turned back to the radar and made adjustment after adjustment, looking for anything that might help them now.

"There's a small asteroid belt three hundred thousand mega-meters to starboard."

"Venture, take us in."

"Aye, Sir." Mark turned the ship towards the asteroids and sent her in their direction as fast as she would go.

The ship reached the asteroids and slipped in, weaving her way through them, hoping the enemy might not follow.

* * *

"Ah, so this is what you wanted me to see." Desslok stepped farther into the dark room, looking at the view screen mounted on the far wall. "These are not our stars, neither are they the stars of any world in our galaxy." he walked straight up to the viewscreen and looked carefully at the image before him, "How have you managed to show me the Eratite's galaxy, Celestella?" the Leader stepped back again, the picture quality to his satisfaction.

"A… friend… provided me with the technology to make it possible, Leader Desslok." Celestella replied, smirking to herself at the memory of the strange conversation she and Mirenel had just finished not an hour ago. "They have some experience in long-range communications."

"My congratulations to them for mastering such a science." The leader replied, "But I'm sure you haven't brought me here to simply stare at alien stars."

"True, Leader." Celestella held up a small device and tapped out a short sequence on it. Suddenly the view on the screen changed and an asteroid field came into view.

"Gantz' fleet." Desslok stated, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the screen.

"Yes, but not just them." Celestella said, seeing that the Leader was beginning to lose interest in her little presentation. She changed the view a bit and something else appeared on the screen.

"And what is that?" the Leader asked, "It looks like an ancient fishing boat flung out into the stars."

"That is the Eratite ship, Sire." Celestella provided.

"Oh, really." Desslok raised an eyebrow at the thing, "And why has Gantz had such trouble with her? She is no match for his fleet, diminished though it is."

"There is more to her than meets the eye, Sir. She has warp capability – which we already knew – and a prime weapon so powerful that it completely disintegrated the Zakkar." Celestella reminded him.

There was silence for a long moment and Celestella suddenly realized that she had misspoken. Standing in horror, she waited for the inevitable outburst of rage that such a revelation would bring. The Leader had had no previous knowledge of the fate of the Zakkar, and the council had thought to keep it from him for the foreseeable future.

"Ee Katan Zakkar… is gone?" the Leader finally said quietly, still staring at the image of the Eratite ship.

"It – it is." Celestella stuttered.

The Leader bowed his head and hissed, "So it ends," then bit back a wrath-filled howl of anguish at its passing. His head remained low for some time and Celestella began to fear that the Leader was missing what was transpiring before him. She was tempted to remind him, but the memory of his few bitter words stopped her instantly. She wanted to keep her head attached to her shoulders for now.

Finally he raised his face back towards the screen and Celestella's shoulders relaxed a bit, but just as soon as she had, the Leader's next words made them knot again.

"They weren't going to tell me." He growled.

Celestella didn't answer.

The Leader whirled around and with fiery eyes he laid into Miezella, "Weren't they?!"

"Yes… Leader Desslok… They thought to keep it from you… though…" she hesitated to say the rest, but saw the ire in her king's eyes and finished her words, "I do not know why." She looked down at the floor, cowed by the overwhelming presence of anger Desslok now carried with him.

She felt as though even the Malha couldn't rival this level of rage – though she had come close many times, and most likely would again – if Miezella ever saw her again.

"That is _none_ of your concern, _Jireli_!" he spat the label as though it were a poison and though she told herself it didn't hurt to be spoken to this way, she couldn't help but feel the barb wedge deeply into her heart.

Despite the sting she, wisely, said nothing, hoping the moment would pass.

Suddenly it did and the Leader turned his angry eyes back towards the perpetrators of a crime Celestella didn't even understand.

He held out a tiny device and spoke several things to it, resulting in the display of a holographic map of stars Miezella couldn't see well enough to recognize.

Then the Leader said, "Send word to Gantz. I've instructions for him."

* * *

"They're not coming, Captain." Nova said in relief, watching as the enemy ships on the radar halted just outside the asteroid belt.

"Good, that'll give us some time." Avatar said.

"Captain, if I may?" Sandor spoke up.

"Yes?" Avatar looked at his XO with a raised eyebrow.

"I think now might be the time to test something I've been working on for a while – since before we left Earth."

"And what might that be?" the captain asked.

"I'll show you." He offered.

"Very well. I'll see you in my quarters in five minutes." With that the captain and his chair rose up into the ceiling, disappearing into the captain's cabin up above the bridge.

Sandor left quickly, leaving Wildstar in charge in his absence.

Twenty minutes stretched by. All eyes were glued to their instruments, waiting for some sign that the enemy was coming in after them.

Then the door to the bridge hissed open and in came Sandor, looking slightly less concerned than he had when he left.

Almost at the same time, the captain and his chair descended from his quarters and he announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a battle plan."

* * *

"Leader Desslok, I have Gantz." Celestella announced.

"Put me through to him." Desslok ordered.

A few seconds later an image of Colonel Gantz appeared on the screen in front of him..

"L – Leader Desslok – Sire –" he bowed before his king, "You have orders?"

"Pursue the Eratite ship immediately."

"Yes, Sire," Gantz nodded, "But the asteroids –"

"Do not question me, Gantz." Desslok growled, "You must not give them time. Herd them like cattle if you must, but do not give them a chance to use their prime weapon."

"Yes, Leader Desslok." Gantz bowed low before his king, then Desslok ended the call.

"Ah, I see." Celestella ventured. "If the ship doesn't have time to make their prime weapon ready… then Gantz has a chance."

"Indeed, Celestella." The Leader said, the condescension in his voice so thick Miezella almost winced, and would have if Desslok hadn't been mere feet away.

The image on the screen changed, and Gantz's small fleet melted into the asteroids.

For a long moment, nothing happened, then, almost imperceptibly, the asteroids began to move and Desslok raised an eyebrow at the strange sight and whispered, "He may already be too late."

* * *

"Colonel, they don't show up on our radar at all." The tactical officer said.

"Nothing at all?" Gantz asked.

"No, sir." Came the reply. "All these asteroids are inhibiting our radar – "

"Then look with your own eyes!" Gantz suddenly exclaimed, the agitation of the past days finally exploding into rage.

"Y- yes, Sir." The tactical officer replied.

"That goes for the rest of you too." Gantz pointed at the rest of the bridge crew and they all began frantically looking out the front and side viewports trying to catch a glimpse of something that might resemble the Eratite ship floating out in the dark of space.

* * *

"_All hands, prepare for asteroid tethering."_ The captain announced over the ship's comm. Individual instructions were sent to each crewman's comm unit and all scrambled to obey even though they didn't know exactly what was going on.

The ship shuddered as it launched thousands of tethering units. Each one flew towards an asteroid, some large, some quite tiny, but all found their mark and were ready for any command.

"Bring them in, Sandor." Avatar ordered.

Sandor nodded and triggered something that none of the bridge crew expected.

Nova looked at the radar in shock as she watched the asteroids converging on their position as though they'd a will all their own.

Crewmen looking out the viewports nearly cried out in terror as asteroids sped towards them as though they would plough right through the hull, but to the surprise of the onlookers they did not so much as scratch the hull, instead, they nestled up against the ship like a comfortable old blanket, blocking out the stars and the rest of the asteroid belt.

The bridge crew looked on in astonishment at the goings on outside.

There was a moment of silence, then Wildstar said, "So… what now?"

"Now we wait." Avatar replied.

* * *

"There's nothing out there, Colonel." Gantz's aide, Bane said, exasperated after hours of searching the viewports fruitlessly, squinting out into the darkness. He'd been staring so long he had a headache and the rest of the men looked like they were suffering much the same. "We should just leave and wait for them to come out."

"Silence, Bane." Gantz snarled. "Just look carefully, and – There! There it is, the Eratite ship!" the colonel exclaimed, pointing at an unusually shaped asteroid.

"But, sir, that's just an ast –"

"Bane, shut up!" Gantz roared at the man. "Can't you see what's right in front of you? They've somehow used the asteroids as a shield to hide themselves from us."

Bane and all the other crewmen turned their eyes to the place Gantz was still pointing at and suddenly they saw what they had all missed for hours. There, only a few thousand mega meters ahead was giant hunk of asteroids congealed together into one unseemly mass and shaped much like the images they had seen of the Eratite ship.

"Gunnery crew, take aim at the asteroid and fire at will." Gantz ordered, eyes smoldering with determination.

"Aye, sir." The crewman replied and relayed the colonel's orders to his own crew.

A few seconds later, laser fire blazed towards the hidden Eratite ship.

* * *

"Captain, incoming fire." Nova looked up from the radar, concern in her eyes. "The Gamilon ships followed us into the belt."

"The asteroids will take a good deal of punishment before breaking apart. And when they do… there is another option we have yet to make use of." Sandor said from his station.

Nova looked at his strangely, wondering exactly what he meant by "another option."

No one said anything else for a while, but they all felt the rumble of the ship as the enemy fired upon their hiding place.

"Captain, I believe it's time." Sandor finally said.

"I agree." Avatar concurred. "Begin the separation."

"_Separation?"_ Wildstar thought, _"Separation from what?"_

His question was soon answered when the asteroids rocketed away from the ship so fast Derek thought they would smash into the other rocks and send a chain reaction through the belt. But instead of collisions, the asteroids formed a giant ring about the ship.

Derek watched as the rocks slowly started to spin, their speed increasing until they whirled about the ship like a waterfall rushing in an unending river through the void.

"Wha…?" Wildstar's mouth dropped open. "What is that?" he pointed out the viewport at the asteroid ring.

"That is our defense, Wildstar." Sandor replied with a smile. "It will shield us from enemy fire."

"Really?" Derek looked at the science officer skeptically. "Those spinning rocks are going to protect us from Gamilon ship?"

"Yes, they will." Sandor replied again. "Just watch."

"Enemy fire at ten o'clock." Nova said just before the asteroids ring darted to intercept the bolts of energy not once, but four times, each bolt slamming into the rocks one right after the other. But none of them got anywhere near the ship.

* * *

Desslok watched, fascinated at the image before him. Gantz had done as he'd said and gone in after the Eratites, but he had lingered too long and now the enemy had found a way to defend themselves in such tight quarters. The Eratite's invention had cleared enough of the asteroids for the Leader to see everything going on.

He would have laughed at the invention, but though it looked odd, it was effective and he admired the Eratites' ingenuity. Gantz's inability to see what was right in front of him had led to a very difficult situation for him.

Desslok smirked. Would Gantz never learn to think on a higher level than his crewmen?

Celestella still stood far behind the Leader, looking on with indifference. Gantz's fleet had been whittled down to size over and over again by these strangers. It was clear to her that their hope for defeating the Eratites did not lie with Gantz, and she was sure the Leader knew that too. So why was he sending the man into a confrontation he knew Gantz could not win?

* * *

"They can't touch us!" Derek exclaimed in triumph, rising out of his seat, he was so excited at the prospect.

"Not entirely true." Sandor put in. "We will have to continually restore the amount of asteroids in the ring in order to maintain this level of protection."

"So once we run out of asteroids…" Wildstar sat back down with a sigh, "We're back to where we were."

"I wouldn't say that," Sandor replied, "This buys us time we otherwise wouldn't have."

"True." The captain said, "But as it is, we must break through the enemy lines and get as far from here as we can."

"But what about that fleet? They're not going away any time soon; all they'll do is chase us wherever we go." Wildstar protested.

"We are in no position to fight a war right now. We'll face them again at a later date – and on our terms, not theirs." The captain replied. "Even though we've found a haven of sorts here, should we be pressed to use the wave motion gun, it would be unsafe to do so. Using it here could do more damage to us than we are prepared to take. The _Argo_ is a sturdy ship – as we've all seen – but there is only so much she can take, and we must not afflict her unnecessarily."

Derek thought about the captain's words for a moment, then he nodded, "I understand…" he looked out at the enemy before them, "So let's punch a hole through 'em and get outta here."

Avatar allowed a small smile for the young man's spirit. He would be a good captain someday.

"Prepare to make a path through the enemy ships, and release the asteroids back into the field." The captain ordered. "Send as many of them into the enemy ships as possible."

"Aye, Captain." Sandor replied, eyes on his instruments.

"Venture, all ahead full. We're getting out of here." Avatar stared intently out the front viewport towards the enemy.

"Yes, Captain."

* * *

"Leader Desslok , the Eratite ship, it's – it's moving!" Celestella exclaimed suddenly feeling very nervous, which made her even more jittery as her previous apathy melted away, replaced with the deep-seated terror that she'd been trying to keep at bay since before they had learned of the Eratite ship's existence.

"As to be expected." Was all he said in response.

Celestella' entire body tensed as she watched the ship with its strange asteroid ring fly towards Gantz's fleet with unknown intent.

She shuddered when she saw what they intended to do, but she held the tremor in, lest the Leader learn of her most secret fear – the coming of the ship bearing the presence of the great Enemy of the Malha. If that ship made it to Belarus, the entire fate of the universe would change irreparably, and that was something she wasn't prepared to face.


	26. Episode 24: Sea of the Red Star

**Episode 24: Sea of the Red Star**

"Sire, the fleet! They are about to be attacked!" Celestella exclaimed.

The Leader said nothing. Instead he simply watched as the Eratite ship shot through Gantz's defenses and ran for open space.

"Is there some particular reason you are so concerned for Gantz's wellbeing?" Leader Desslok asked, not bothering to look at his aide.

"N - no, Sire. I simply don't wish for our forces to suffer any unnecessary losses." Celestella replied, trying to still the pounding of her anxious heart.

"We need not fear _that_ fate." The Leader replied quietly, then added, "Summon my council. I wish them to see what is in store for this cursed vessel."

"You… wish them to come… here?" she asked, a bit nervous.

"Do not worry too much, Celestella. I will not be revealing my source for what they see before them. There is yet to come much that even _you_ do not know." The Leader finally turned to face her, a look of odd anticipation on his face. "I hadn't thought I would see the ill fate I have prepared for the Eratite ship, but now, we _all _ shall see it."

In that instant Desslok reminded her very much of the Malha. Rather appropriate though, she thought. Some things, such as a foul temper, seemed to run in this particular family's blood. She had learned not to wonder what the Leader was thinking anymore. When he first took the throne she had spent countless hours trying to understand how he thought, but after months of trying, she still didn't have a fundamental understanding of this odd man's mind. Sometimes she shuddered to think what he must know of her. He seemed at times not to know about her and Mirenel's affiliation with the zealots – or Deun – but then there were the moments that he looked at her with eyes that seemed to bore into her soul, and in those moments she was sure that he knew everything.

With an imperceptible shiver she nodded, "Yes, Leader Desslok." Celestella bowed to the man, then left to retrieve the rest of the council.

* * *

The _Argo_ sailed on through space, the asteroids and the enemy fleet now behind them, but the odds were that the fleet was following them, even if they were out of sensor range. The whole crew sensed it – that something was coming after them.

A feeling of relief had settled on many of the bridge crew, knowing that they'd weathered an enemy attacked and come out none the worse for wear, but at the same time, they knew that haste was of the utmost importance. They had to either lose their pursuers, or find a defensible position that would let them fight off this Gamilon fleet once and for all.

They had warped several times and were nearing a star. The radar was clear as they waited to pass the star before they warped again.

The bridge crew were preparing for the next jump when the alarm on the radar sounded.

"Captain! Unidentified mass approaching from the stern." Nova said, adjusting the radar, trying to figure out exactly what they were looking at. "I'm not sure what it is. It's almost like a giant organism of some kind."

"Sandor, any data on the sensors?" Asked the captain.

"Nothing definite, just that it's some sort of gas, though it's much more substantial than any gas I've ever seen." Sandor replied, staring intently at the screen in front of him.

"Is it a threat?" Avatar asked.

"There's no way to know from the data." Sandor replied.

"I can't tell anything either." Nova said.

"Jettison a probe." The captain ordered. "Let's see what we're dealing with."

The probe was ordered and sent out. Within a minute it was swallowed by the gas.

"I've lost telemetry from the probe." Sandor announced an instant after the gas enveloped the probe; he stared at the screen for a few seconds, "Captain, we have to get out of here, now. That gas just ate our probe whole. There's nothing left of it."

"Venture, get us out of here."

"Captain, we can't warp yet, the engine hasn't recovered enough to handle that." Orion said.

Avatar nodded to the old engineer. "I know." He looked back at Venture, "Take us past the star as fast as you can."

Venture moved to head the ship out of the area at top speed.

"Wait! Captain, enemy ships just coming out of warp to port. They're moving to cut off our escape." Nova felt her stomach tighten.

"Venture, can we make it out before they trap us here?" Avatar asked.

Mark stared at the data he'd been sent by the radar and science computers. He felt his heart start to pound. "No, Captain. We can't. They're moving too quickly." He shook his head and whispered, "They knew where we'd be – somehow."

"Take us in, Venture." Avatar said solemnly.

"In where?"

"Toward the star."

Venture swallowed hard and obeyed.

* * *

"So it begins." Leader Desslok smirked as he watched Gantz's ships corner the Eratites between the star and the creature pursuing them.

The council all stood watching the scene. The looks on their faces were mixed. Desslok watched each one as they saw the Eratite ship – something none of them had seen before.

The most startled face was Elisa's. Desslok watched as her hand flew to her mouth when the ship started towards the star. Then he turned his gaze to Celestella and nearly laughed when he saw her trying to hide the look of anxiety on her face.

Many of the rest of the attendees were trying to hide what they thought of the display.

Desslok knew that many of them didn't approve of this, but also knew that they wouldn't publically protest. They knew that, should this ship reach it's goal, that their chances of finding a place for their people to go were gone. Though some would be willing to die, none were willing to let their loved ones die because of their decisions. He had chosen his council well. All of them stood to lose too much should this ship succeed.

"What do you see?" the Leader's voice echoed through the silent room.

There was no response.

"You see nothing?" he asked ominously.

All eyes pried themselves away from the ship and turned to the Leader in dread.

"This is your salvation." He made a grand gesture towards the image. "Salvation from this death our Gamilon faces."

The silence remained.

"But should this ship endure – should it come here, there is no guarantee of anything." The Leader stated. "The ones you hold most dear will face death because of this ship." Many of the men and women looked away, their eyes turning to the ground. "I do not adjure you to approve, only to agree that the Eratites must never reach this world."

This elicited a host of reluctant nods. Everyone slowly turned back to the scene – all except one. Out of the corner of his eye the Leader caught Elisa slipping out. He drew no attention to her. She likely had much on her mind with her husband's absence.

They all watched as the Eratite ship sailed into the corona of the red star that stood between them and escape from the all-consuming darkness that chased them.

* * *

"Captain, we could destroy the fleet; we could use the wave motion gun to –" Derek started.

"There's no time, Wildstar." Sandor interrupted, "the power drain would take too much out of us, and the gas would envelope us."

"So how is this better?" Derek challenged, "Those flares are gonna fry us." He pointed out the viewport at one of the star's nearby flares. A giant angry finger shot up out of the star like an enraged monster.

"Wildstar, sit down and wait." The Captain said with such authority that Derek felt compelled to do just as he said.

Wildstar sat down and shut up, though he radiated his displeasure to those around him, making Mark more nervous than he already was. The navigator's hands were already shaking as they began their approach.

The star loomed before them, roiling in anger at the trespassers.

Thankfully, the Gamilon ships weren't following them to the star, though the gas had no such inhibitions and billowed along, coming closer and closer – too close in fact.

Alarms screeched as small pieces of the ship were consumed by the dreadful void.

"Captain, we have to speed up. It`s gaining too quickly. We`ll be swallowed whole if we don't get out of here." Said Sandor.

"Venture, increase our speed."

Mark swallowed hard. "Yes – Captain."

Venture punched up the speed. The _Argo_ shot forward into the crimson death ahead. Mark felt like he was going to die right there, but he held on to the controls, and with them, he kept his grip on reality.

The feeling of the nav console under his gloved hands – the control he had over this ship – it was both terrifying and comforting. The familiar and the unfamiliar; reality, and the escape he craved, crashed down on him at the same instant.

For one flicker of an eye he fought with the urge to run for his life in blind fear, then the sense of confidence in his fellow crew and his duty to all of them and those he'd left behind on Earth blasted through his doubt. He narrowed his eyes at the storm ahead and, teeth gritted, he took them all into the sea of the red star.

* * *

Elisa felt sick. She rushed to the nearest washroom and promptly lost whatever she'd eaten that afternoon.

How could killing that entire ship's crew be the only way to prevent Gamilon's death? How did Leader Desslok know that that ship was coming to Gamilon? Perhaps they were simply seeking a place for their people to go in the wake of everything their planet was undergoing? Was this even necessary?

She felt another rush of heat come up her throat.

She reached for a damp cloth to cool her burning eyes and face. She washed away the acrid taste of stomach acid and wiped the tears from her irritated eyes.

Thankfully no one else had come in and she took the opportunity to lock the washroom door so she would have the time to let what she'd seen settle into her mind. Perhaps she was overreacting to what the Leader was doing. After all, he'd led them through so much already.

He'd saved them all from the rule of Deun the Usurper – his own flesh and blood. He'd slowed the spread of the plague on Gamilon and eradicated it on Iscandar. He'd protected them all from the terror of the zealots, and through his efforts, saved more lives than Elisa could even count.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her stomach still roiling, but not letting the nausea get the best of it.

But as she thought of her people and everything that had gone on in the past several years, the image of that ship – that strange, alien ship – broke through and, though she had never met them, in her mind she saw the faces of the ones they were trying to kill at this very moment.

The vision gripped her and try as she might, she couldn't let it go. The future of _two_ worlds was at stake, hers, and theirs. She wanted so much to be able to see her people live and thrive as they once had – as she knew they could again.

She gripped her upset stomach as it started to roil again.

There was only one way she could see this clearly, and it wasn't watching the sickening display in the other room.

She pulled out her communicator and, hands still shaking from throwing up, she turned it on and said, "Raymond Talan."

* * *

When Elisa didn't return, Desslok wasn't surprised. He knew she hadn't the stomach for such things.

He stared at the ship descending into the great maw of flames and let the smallest smirk of triumph escape his impenetrable façade. Almost immediately he felt remorse for what he'd done to the ones he'd sent that creature to destroy.

An instant later he sensed a presence, one he had not felt since Masterson's departure and a seed of hope started to grow in his dread-filled heart, but just as soon as it appeared it was quashed without mercy as the all-too familiar darkness he'd been mired in grabbed the speck of light and crushed it in its terrible hand.

"_You are mine, great leader of men. You cannot entertain such thoughts of turning back now that you've come so far."_ The voice he'd come to dread echoed in his mind with a finality that he knew he couldn't resist. He had to do this. The darkness living in the shadows had made its presence known again, and it was right. There was no turning back now. He knew in his heart somehow that the Eratites would come here. The presence in the dark had never stated it, but he knew.

The time was coming when he would see the faces of those he most needed to destroy. In his heart he knew this too, but he watched with hope that he was wrong, wishing to see the end of the Eratites and their misbegotten ship.

* * *

All of Mark's nerves were on fire. The flares were predictable to a point and Sandor and Nova were feeding him data from their consoles so he could keep them out of the molten star's flares.

The star was the least of their problems now though. The real problem was the cloud of darkness bearing down on them from behind. It moved like a living thing – as though it had a will all its own.

Black hands reached out towards the ship, grasping for any tiny hold it could find.

Venture could sense those fingers clawing, probing the gap between them and it, straining to pull them into its dreadful maw of never-ending death.

Just when he thought they had a chance of making it through the inferno, a giant wall of flame shot up out of the star's surface.

"Captain?!" Venture's voice rose sharply as he quickly tried to maneuver around the pillar of fire.

He just narrowly missed it, but there would be more unpredicted flares.

"Maintain our speed, Venture." Avatar replied, his eyes fixed on the flames all around them.

"But Captain, we – " Mark began

"Venture, maintain our speed." The captain repeated firmly.

Mark gritted his teeth against the fear rising in his gut. Why was the captain doing this? He was going to get them all killed.

* * *

_The darkness oozed forward. Its hands outstretched towards the ship running away in vain. Didn't they know there was no escape now? The flares would take them if he did not._

_The darkness laughed. Its prey thought it was merely a cloud of toxic gas with a voracious appetite, but what it didn't know was that there was a mind and a will infused into it. Its master wanted nothing left to chance. The ship was to die today. There was nothing that the Master had not planned for. He only wished that every soul onboard might know the dread of seeing the Master face to face, but the Enemy had seen fit not to allow that. There were many of _His_ onboard. But there was nothing they could do to prevent this – nothing._

_The darkness laughed again in glee at the thought of presenting so many souls to his master at once._

_He plunged onward, reaching out towards the ship, straining to grasp it. _

_He grinned as his finger brushed the very end of its hull melting away another piece of the cursed ship._

* * *

"Wildstar, ready the wave motion gun." Avatar ordered, brow furrowed, eyes intense, the seed of thought blooming into a fully fledged plan.

"Aye, Captain. But I thought we didn't have time to use it." Derek replied.

"We have no choice now." The captain countered. "There will be more flares like the last. We can't be caught in it."

Derek shrugged and did as he was told.

Sandor looked up from his console. "Captain, I got a good sensor reading from that last flare. I think I can pinpoint the next one."

"Excellent." Avatar said, then asked Wildstar, "How soon will we have the wave gun ready?"

"Minute or so." Derek replied, engrossed in his console.

"Be ready to begin the countdown on my mark." The captain said.

"Flare activity in thirty seconds off to port." Sandor announced. "And it's a big one."

"Venture, take us to the coordinates Sandor just sent you. We finish this now." Said the captain.

"Yes, Sir. Ten degrees to port." Mark acknowledged as he thought, _"How… are we going to survive this..."_

* * *

Leader Desslok let his gaze wander from the image of the ship long enough to see that several of his council had lost the disgusted look they'd harbored when they'd first arrived.

Celestella was the only one who'd shown unashamed joy at the ship's desperation, and though he thought it crude to display her thought so openly he was thankful for the support. Perhaps if one council member showed approval, others wouldn't hesitate to show theirs as well.

That was one of the reasons he kept the Jireli and her strange sister. _They_ at least showed some enthusiasm, and for all their oddities and faults, he found their presence helpful enough to consider them of value.

He looked back to the Eratite ship and watched as the darkness edged ever closer.

"_Your doom is upon you… Eratites."_


	27. Episode 25: Eyes to See

**Episode 25: Eyes to See**

"How is he today?" Starsha's voice reached across the room to Alex who stood by his friend's sickbed.

Alex looked back over his shoulder at the queen. "He is… better I think." He replied. "He moves sometimes, but hasn't opened his eyes once."

Starsha came to stand by Alex, he covered hand held out to translate her words, "He will though."

"I wish I had your confidence." Alex replied, downcast. "He should have woken up by now. It's been… so long since we crashed here."

"Meer weeks." Starsha provided, "Not as long as it seems."

Alex let his head droop even more.

"Do not fear for him, Alexander." Starsha offered, "The hand of Yahweh is not so weak that it cannot save."

"And what does that mean?" Alex asked quietly. "I'm just supposed to believe that God is going to miraculously heal him?"

"Yahweh does as He wills." Starsha replied simply. "I have seen enough to know that without doubt."

"Well, I haven't." Alex said, his voice harboring a bitter edge.

Starsha said nothing to this for a long time, instead she knelt beside Adam's bed and laid her covered hand atop his.

She began speaking, but with her hand no longer free, Alex had no idea what she was saying. He had learned a few words in Iscandarian, but the majority of the language was still lost to him.

He looked down at the young queen and shook his head when he saw her head bowed in reverence as she offered an unknown prayer to her Yahweh.

* * *

Starsha felt the rough hand of the Eratite man lying in front of her. To her it told the story of their long journey here to Iscandar on the wings of adversity. It told her of every moment he spent on board that ship and every second he suffered at the hands of his captors.

She gently squeezed Adam's hand and looked at his closed eyes. His eyelids fluttered once and she held her breath, hoping they might open, but an instant after they moved, they stilled again and she knew it was more likely a dream than him waking.

She watched his chest rise and fall slowly as he breathed, now without the assistance of the medical equipment – for which she thanked Yahweh. At least he'd made _that_ much progress.

She sighed quietly, knowing it could be much longer before Adam woke up… and… there was the possibility that he wouldn't wake up at all.

She bowed her head as the words she had seen so many years ago etched into the floor came back to her and she couldn't help but whisper them, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

The day she'd seen those words came back all at once. She'd been wondering who she would be – what her future held. She hadn't known it at the time, but her entire world was about to be thrown into turmoil. She had watched her people – every one of them except her sister Astra – die. She had held infants as they breathed their last. She had tended to young men and women as their bodies aged well beyond their physical age. She had seen the old drop dead before her eyes. She had prayed for deliverance from this madness, but it had not come – not as she'd expected it to.

The day Desslok had come to her world and eradicated the rest of the virus his own brother had unleashed on her world. And with that one act, he had cleared the vestiges of her old life away. Nothing remained of the old Iscandar except the field of the dead, now many times the size it used to be.

If she looked up now she could have seen the thousands of graves staring at her from outside the window, their shining spires seeming to look into her heart and ask, _"What will you do now to save a life?_

Starsha thought on the question as it echoed over and over. There was nothing she could do for Adam that she hadn't already done, but there was one thing she could do again.

She knew Alex wouldn't understand her, but this was not for Alex; this was for Adam, and for all those who's died here. And it was for Yahweh.

Starsha's mind went back to a prayer she had learned when she was a little girl. She let her eyes fall closed as she spoke, "Heal us, O Adonai, and we shall be healed; save us, and we will be saved, for the one we praise is You." Starsha wished that her sisters could be with her now to see what Yahweh had done even now in saving these two from the hands of their captors. "Bring healing for all our sicknesses, for O Yahweh, for You are our faithful and compassionate Healer and King. Blessed are you, Yahweh Rophe, the Healer of the sick of Yisrael.*"

Starsha raised her eyes to Adam. His eyes remained closed, his breathing unchanged.

She stood and turned to go, holding her hand out so that Alex could understand her again.

"I shall leave you with your friend." She said as she walked back to the door.

She was just about to let her hand drop to her side when something stopped her.

"No…"

The one word gripped her and she whirled back around to see Adam's weary eyes now open and looking at her in gratitude. "Stay… please." He somehow managed to say, his voice raspy from long disuse.

Alex, in utter shock, did not protest his friend's wishes, but instead stared at the other man in wonder, knowing that he had just seen the very thing he had not believed in a moment ago – the hand of Yahweh, moving as He willed it to.

* * *

Dara felt like the world made no sense anymore. She looked at the walls of her tiny cabin, wondering what would become of her.

The _Rakiah Cobel_ was heading out towards Balan now. Their orders were simple: go to Balan and rendezvous with the other ships who would also be assembling there.

Dara knew something was about to happen, but she had no idea what it might be.

Were they going to launch an offensive against this one ship? Surely this was more force than necessary if that was the case.

But then she remembered the notes Melda had left and the logs from other ships that had been in the conflict with the Eratites too. This ship was like nothing she had ever seen – nothing any of them had ever seen. But how had it become so powerful? What had happened that had turned the tide?

Dara closed her eyes and thought about that very question – what is this universe could have happened to give this ship the advantage it seemed to have.

Surely the Eratites possessed nothing of this magnitude – a weapon powerful enough to completely destroy Ee Katan Zakkar; that left a number of possibilities. There was little chance that anyone from Gamilon had given them this technology, and the Cometines certainly hadn't. They would have conquered the weakened world, not helped it. The same was true of the Bolars, should they even know of the existence of the Eratites.

There was the possibility that some unknown group had pitied the people and given them a gesture of goodwill…

But that was highly unlikely.

Then there was the last possibility…

Dara sat up and reached for the old book she'd found under the floor. She opened the front cover and read the strange title again. "Tanakh."

It was an unfamiliar word, though she had an idea of what she held. She'd heard some of her old customers talking about it. In her hand she held the words of Adonai Himself. She didn't know if she quite believed _that_ yet, but she would concede that perhaps there was something to this book.

She flipped through the book, more slowly than she had when she'd found it.

This time she noticed markings next to portions of text. How had she missed this the first time? The first marking came about a fourth of the way into the book. She read it, but it didn't make much sense to her.

"_If any of thine that are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will Yahweh Adonai gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee."_

She turned more pages and found another mark. This one read,

"_Thus saith Yahweh Adonai: Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up Mine ensign to the peoples, and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders."_

Dara's brow furrowed at the mention of children being brought home and her heart ached as she wished her child might be brought home again.

She shook the thought away and tried to refocus on what she was looking at. She turned again until she saw the next mark.

"_And I will be found of you, saith Yahweh, and I will turn your captivity, and gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith Yahweh; and I will bring you back unto the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive."_

And on to the next.

"_For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep Mine ordinances, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God."_

Dara stopped for a moment, finally seeing the theme of these words – Aliyah – a nation returning home. She continued through the rest of the book, reading the last three marked pieces one after another.

"_Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will save My people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Yerushalayim; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness."_

"_And I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and shall return. I will bring them back also out of the land of Mitzrayim*, and gather them out of Asshur*; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not suffice them."_

"_Remember, I beseech Thee, the word that Thou didst command Thy servant Moshe, saying: If ye deal treacherously, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples; but if ye return unto Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though your dispersed were in the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to cause My name to dwell there."*_

Dara closed the book and reached to lay it back in its place under her bunk, but as she did, she felt one of the end pages start to fall out. She pulled the book back and opened it, not wanting the only clue she had about Melda's real thoughts on what was going on to be damaged, but she didn't see a loose page falling out of the book, instead it was an _extra_ page, nothing like the rest.

Dara pulled the strange page all the way out of the book and stared at it.

"_I can't even read this…"_ Dara thought as she turned the page this way and that, trying to figure out what it said. Then an idea came to her.

She got up out of bed and stood in front of her computer console.

She held up the sheet of paper and asked simply, "What does this say?"

The computer took a moment to respond and Dara held her breath, hoping the machine could understand what she couldn't."

"_No known translation exists for this text."_ The computer replied.

Dara sighed and started to return to her bunk.

"_Possible language match identified."_ The computer suddenly announced. _"Text is 95.89% similar to Iscandarian."_

Dara stopped in her tracks, not knowing what to think.

"Iscandarian?" she asked without thinking.

"_Correct." _The computer replied.

"But… it cannot be translated?" she asked, not sure how that could be.

"_The text is coded."_

"So decode it." Dara shot back.

"_I am not programmed to override security protocols."_

Dara's eyes widened and instantly she knew something much bigger was going on and she'd just tumbled right into it. If she'd harbored hopes of getting out of this, she knew they'd all just vanished.

* * *

"I have heard from the Sentinels; the ship is in trouble."

The words broke into Mariposa's world and grabbed her back from the snow-covered forest she was roaming. Her mind returned to the hollow of the Nine.

"Trouble?" Mariposa asked.

"Indeed." Elazar replied, "They are trapped between a sea of fire and a great void. The flames have no will of their own, but the void possesses an all-consuming hunger, and it reaches for the ship, yearning to swallow it and take the lives of all aboard."

"How can that be so?" Mariposa asked, "What has happened to create such a terrible creature?"

Elazar did not reply right away and Mariposa started to worry about him.

"Elazar?" she asked "What is it?"

Her rescuer finally replied, "It is… a story I have only now come to know, and it is one that I cannot tell you now, Mariposa. But you must know that there is much more to this creature than meets the eye. Its will was given by Abaddon, but its shape was given by a leader of men. He strives to lead his people home, but he has lost his sense of who he is. There is much he does not know about those he has befriended, and it may be his undoing."

"Who is this man, Elazar?" Mariposa asked.

"He… is lost." Elazar replied.

"But what is his name?" Mariposa asked, hoping it was no one she knew.

"I cannot tell you, Mariposa." Came Elazar's quiet reply, "I cannot reveal his name for now, though one day you will know it, I am sure."

"But why?" asked the girl.

"It is not time for you to know." Replied Elazar.

"I don't understand."

"I know." The man said, "You must see this with clear eyes. To tell you who wars against this ship would be to cloud your sight. I have told the Nine the story I heard from the Sentinels and they agree."

"Do _they_ know who this man is?" Mariposa asked, a bit irritated that she might be the only one left in the dark.

"No." Elazar replied, "Only that he is trying to help his people survive."

This made Mariposa pause, "I… know a man like that, though he is far from here, and he would never do such a thing as attack an innocent ship for his own sake… Has this ship threatened him with their weapon?"

"They have not." Elazar replied. "Not directly. His forces attacked the ship and they did what they thought was necessary to survive. They used their weapon against his forces at the cost of many lives."

If she could have nodded, Mariposa would have, but the pod's restrictions did not allow her to do so. "Has this ship lost any of its crew at this man's hand?"

"They have." Came the reply.

"So blood has been spilled on both sides. This will be hard to overcome." Mariposa thought back to the years she had spent behind the lines with her mother, her friends, Desslok and Masterson – all the lives that had been lost in that great rebellion. "Perhaps they could find a way to help each other. What is this ship's purpose? Have the Sentinels heard?"

"The ship seeks to save its people from extinction. Their homeworld is riddled with disease and they come seeking a cure."

"So they share a similar goal." Mariposa said simply, "Both of them care so much for their people that they have taken extreme steps to save them. They have all sacrificed to see their loved ones safe."

If Mariposa could have seen Elazar she would have seen the look of admiration on his face, and if she'd looked a little deeper she would have seen great pain hidden in his eyes. He was glad she could not see him, because he knew she would have seen through him, and he could not tell her his reasons for harboring such great sorrow – not yet, perhaps not ever.

"I hope that one day soon they will realize what you have said, Mariposa, but I fear that they are far from seeing that for now. But I pray that they see it before it is too late."

"_Elazar, the Sentinels are moving."_ The voice of one of the Nine broke in. _"It seems that something else has caught the Malha's eye. She fears this ship, but she will not be returning to that galaxy anytime soon. She has found another pawn to use in her game."_

"Who?" Elazar asked.

"_It would seem that a legend has awoken – the legend of a world with the power to make the impossible become reality. But she has chosen not to seek it herself; instead she has enlisted another – one named Sabera."_

At this name alarm ran through Mariposa. "Sabera?! Sabera of _Gatlantis_?"

"_Yes. It is she. Is she known to you?"_

"She is…" Mariposa replied, "She was a cruel child, if she holds power on _Gatlantis_, I am sure she has not changed for the better. Should this ship struggling to find its cure run across her path, then may Adonai help them."

* * *

**Episode 25 Notes:**

*Hebrew blessing for healing  
*Mitzrayim – Egypt  
*Asshur – Assyria  
*Refrences include: Deuteronomy 30:4; Isaiah 49:22; Jeremiah 29:14; Ezekiel 36:24-28; Zechariah 8:7-8; Zechariah 10:9-10; Nehemiah 1:8-9

**Author's note:**

Remember to check out my profile page for updates and news.


	28. Episode 26: Over the Threshold

**Episode 26: Over the Threshold**

"But Captain, it's still fairly new to us. What if we don't arrive as planned? What if something goes wrong on the way? And with the Storm Leader aboard too – what would happen if we were all lost – "

"Pauker, shut up." Captain Raphan gave his seconds in command a stern look and man instantly closed his mouth. "The gates have been explored by many a ship since their discovery four years ago."

The look on Pauker's face told Raphan that the man wanted to protest more – perhaps that the gates hadn't been explored to his satisfaction. And Raphan understood that fear. He too had thought more than once about the Leader's orders to use the gates to travel to Balan, but he also saw the sense in the command. If they were to travel via warp only to the strange planet it would take several months, and that was assuming all went well on the way. With the gates it would be cut down to a couple of weeks or so of continuous warp and one gate transfer.

The ship was almost to the gate hub where they would cross over through the Aquarius Gate leading directly to Balan.

The planet seemed to be a concentration for the gates as there were gates to uncounted places stationed there. Not all of those gates had been explored though and were to be avoided except in the case of a life-or-death scenario. Raphan prayed they would never see another such encounter.

The gate they'd wandered through after the battle with the Eratite ship had landed them someplace they had never been before and finding their way home had thankfully, not been too difficult, but who was to say what might happen next time?

"We are taking the gate, Pauker, as the Leader had commanded us to. Once at Balan we will wait for further orders."

The executive officer nodded reluctantly, looking more nervous by the minute, then he mumbled something.

"What was that?" the captain asked, annoyed at the man's constant sniveling.

"Captain, it – it chills me to the bone every time we go near a gate. What am I to do once we've crossed the threshold?"

"Go to sleep, Pauker. No ghosts will touch you there." The captain shook his head at the man's silly worry about what lay within the gate.

He had heard stories about crewmen feeling strangely when they participated in gate travel. A few had even seen strange things from time to time. One man even thought he had seen his dead sister, but those fears had been laid to rest when a thorough investigation was done. The gates did cause hallucinations in some of the weaker-stomached travelers, but all in all, it was as safe a way to travel as any.

"I can do that when we get there?" Pauker asked, his eyes wide, obviously not having expected such a solution from the captain.

"If it will stop you from complaining any more about it then, yes, you may go to the med bay and get a tranquilizer."

"Oh, thank you, Captain!" Pauker thanked Raphan.

The man seemed overly relieved, but Raphan didn't give it much thought.

The Pauker started in on something else Raphan didn't want to talk about, "So why is it called the 'Aquarius Gate'?"

* * *

"_All hands, prepare for gate travel."_

The voice echoed over the ship-wide comm system, waking Dara from a fitful sleep.

What was going on? What was "gate travel"? She'd never heard of such a thing, and she certainly didn't know how to prepare for it.

"Computer, what is gate travel?" she asked.

"Gate travel is the transportation from one hub of the Aquarius Gate Network to another. The transportation involves a warp-like state where the crew of a ship may experience space-sickness, claustrophobia, hallucinations, or symptoms of depression, though these side-effects are rare. Most symptoms can be managed by the ship's on-board medical personnel."

"But what should _I_ do to prepare for it?"

"If you are unaccustomed to gate travel, stay in your quarters. Do not roam the halls. Do not move suddenly. Do not eat or drink anything until you emerge from the gate. If you must consume nourishment during this time, be prepared for nausea and dizziness."

Dara winced, thinking about the last time she got space-sick. It had been her first voyage with the Captain and Malak aboard the cargo ship she had worked on long before she'd been marooned on that terrible planet, and long before she'd ever set foot on Gamilon.

The memory of her time on that ship was one of the few things that could still make her smile.

The old ship had had its problems, but the crew had been her family back then, after she'd been turned out by her former lover, her daughter's father. The slime had had the guts to trade her for another woman – one who he'd summarily killed several years later, but not before she too had given him a daughter. Instead of sending his second child away he had given her the promise of the throne one day – a promise he owned to Constance, not this "Princess Invidia" as she'd been named.

_Gatlantis_ had been a troubling place; she had no doubt it still was, especially if that child Sabera was still there. The girl had been a terror. She was not of the royal house. In fact, Dara couldn't even remember where she'd come from; she'd just shown up one day.

Eventually she'd become friends with Invidia and garnered favor with the ruler of _Gatlantis_. Chances were that she had taken advantage of that favor by now…

Dara shivered at the memory of the girl. She had long silver hair and skin the color of green moss. Her eyes were hard, black stones that stared through the soul and her heart was a loveless pit of dark despair.

"_Gate travel will commence in three minutes."_

The voice broke through her memory and brought her back.

"_Great…"_ she thought, _"I suppose I'll have to get used to space travel again…"_ she sighed and sat back down on her bunk. The countdown to the ship's jump through the gate flickered above the door to her quarters. Two minutes and forty seconds left.

She closed her eyes and waited.

Soon she felt an odd sensation, like the air was moving differently, swirling around her. She felt cold. But it wasn't like the normal cold of space; it was something else, like a darkness had seeped into her room through the hull. Her skin prickled, like lightning was nearby, but she knew that couldn't be in the middle of space.

"Computer, how long until we reach our destination?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

"_Three hours, fifty-two minutes."_ Came the reply.

"How often are these gates used?" Dara asked, the thought came to her that this could be a way for her to travel the long distance that separated her from her daughter.

"_They have only been used for the past two months. The Aquarius Gates have only recently been reactivated after centuries of disuse. They were discovered five years ago by an exploration vessel and reactivated four years ago."_

"So they don't really know much about these gates." Dara said quietly, feeling a bit alarmed at this, then the thought came to her that they could be jumping into anything on the other side of this "gate" and she stood up quickly.

She immediately regretted it and sank back down onto the bunk, feeling woozy.

"_The gate system has been mapped and traveled. It is disturbing to many, but safe to use."_ The computer countered.

Dara let out a sigh of relief, but wondered what was so disturbing about gate travel, other than the space sickness – and the unnatural cold. As she wondered she saw dark fingers floating through the air, reaching out to touch everything in the room. It was like some presence was here in the gate, something that made her gut lurch, and not with the nausea she felt from the strange travel.

She'd felt that presence before. It tasted bitter and smelled of death. Whatever this place truly was, she knew she wouldn't be returning any time soon if she could at all help it.

* * *

"The Wave Gun's ready." Wildstar flipped open the sights for the weapon and waited, his eyes glued to the scene before him.

The star's surface roiled and angry red and dangerous flares spiked everywhere around them, trying to impale the stalwart ship with its deadly fingers.

"Start the countdown." The captain ordered. "Keep us away from those flares, Venture."

The system began to count backward from ten and Mark did his best to keep the ship out of harm's way as they waited the agonizing seconds for the time to expire.

When the count reached two an alarm blared.

"The flare is rising." Sandor said.

The count reached zero and Derek saw the pillar of fire rise like a wall before the ship.

His finger curled around the trigger mechanism and he squeezed, feeling the entire ship jolt as the connection with the wave engine engaged and the surge of power exploded from the ship out into space, cutting through the void with bold purpose.

Derek's eyes, though covered by a shield were momentarily blinded by the blast and for a moment he wondered if he'd failed – if he'd missed the flare.

The blast cleared and Wildstar's serious face broke out in a wide smile. There in the midst of the flames was a hole just large enough for the ship to squeeze through.

Venture pushed the ship forward through the gaping hole, and not a moment too soon.

The _Argo_ shot forward, just squeezing through the gap.

* * *

_The darkness surged ahead. It's prey was within reach. Just a little farther and it would have the ship once and for all._

_It stretched out its hand to take it. _

_A blast of light filled the void of space with its brilliance, knocking the darkness backward so hard that it had to get its bearings again. When it did, it screamed in pain at the light, its brightness burning into the creature's essence._

"_No!" it wailed, "No! You cannot get away from me so easily!" it growled in rage and thrust itself towards the ship again._

_It burned – the light from the blast ate at the creature with a voraciousness it had not felt before, save from the sword of the Enemy's servants, the malakhim. _

_What _was_ this ship? The Master had not said it was anything special. In that instant it realized that what it sought was something far more dangerous than it had ever perceived. He felt the touch of the great Enemy within the light that the ship possessed. It shrieked and threw itself into the light, knowing that there was nothing more it could do – not against such an Enemy as the presence of Shaddai._

_The last thing it felt was a wall of fire bursting through its body and sending it back to the void from whence it had come._

* * *

The flare reformed right behind the _Argo_, sending yet another series of alarms off. The hull plating wasn't made to withstand such intense heat.

"Venture, get us out of here." Avatar ordered.

"Aye, Captain." Mark pushed the engine as hard it would go after a wave gun salvo. The ship sailed on, leaving behind the Red Star and the shocked enemy fleet that had tried to cut them off.

* * *

Nova looked out the front viewport and sighed heavily, relief washing over her. Begin caught between to lethal forces was stressful enough, but she'd felt the void coming for them. Somehow she'd sensed it, like an oppressive presence trying to crush her, and there was this terrible stench…

She looked around the bridge, _"Did they feel it too?"_ she wondered, looking first at Derek and Mark. They didn't give any indication of knowing anything about it. Then there was Eager; he seemed to just be happy they were away from the star's heat. Dash was the same. Orion seemed a little edgy though, and Homer too. Then there was Sandor. The science officer seemed in a daze, staring at his station like he'd seen some phantom appear.

She chanced a gaze back at the captain.

Her eyes locked with his for just a moment and she knew he'd felt it too, if only for an instant.

Avatar looked away from her and said, "Sandor, Forrester, Glitchman, and Orion, come to my cabin. Your replacements had been notified."

"Yes, Sir." Came the reply from them all as the captain's chair began its journey upward to Avatar's quarters. "The rest of you, prepare for a warp."

* * *

"Wonder what that's about." Derek said when the officers in question had all left the bridge.

"Don't know." Mark replied, "But he'd better make it quick whatever it is. That fleet isn't going to stand around staring at that star for long. We're bound to be followed. Even if we warp now, they could follow us. They seem to know which way we're going somehow, and they've followed us after a warp before. What's to stop them from doing it again?"

"Nothing I guess." Derek replied, then silence lapsed between them.

"Maybe they're coming up with some strategy for the warp or something." Mark put in.

"Yeah, maybe." Derek replied, "After all, they're the ones he usually calls before a warp anyway – expect Homer. Not sure what that's about. Maybe he wants to leave a message for the Gamilon. Tell 'em they'll have to try harder to kill us."

Mark let out a skeptical huff, "Right, Wildstar."

"Hey, it was just an idea." Derek defended, "You have any better ones?"

"No, I guess not." Mark said looking back out at the vast expanse of stars still ahead and letting the autopilot reinitialize.

"You know why you're all here." The captain said frankly once all four officers were present. "That was no space phenomena we encountered."

"Captain, I can't the feel of it off my skin." Homer said in anxious disgust.

"It showed me things I haven't seen for years." Sandor said, "The deaths of friends – family. Things I had hoped never to relive again."

Orion said solemnly, "I heard it comin'. Like a great lion gatherin' to jump on its prey. Such a sound it was. And when it died… the scream it gave up…" the old engineer shivered at the thought of the awful sound.

There was a long silence before Nova spoke up, "I smelled death…" she managed, "It wouldn't leave until I got up to come here. It was like I had walked into a mass grave." She felt cold remembering the reek.

The captain looked at them all, "The taste of blood is one I know well, and one I do not want to experience again, but I too felt the presence of whatever was trying to overtake us. I tasted its death at the hands of the fire."

All five looked around at one another, noting the similar expressions on each other's faces, knowing that there was only one explanation for what they'd just witnessed.

"I had hoped never to live to see this day." The captain said quietly, "When the shadows would come out of the darkness and stalk the light with the intent to kill it. I had hoped that I would be gone by now, with my family in a place I would never have to see such horrors again. But I am not and I have just experienced the presence of great evil, as have you all."

The captain sighed and bowed his head, "May God be with us all on this journey, for I fear that this is but the beginning of what we will face as we go on."

He looked up and met the gaze of the four. "Will you pray with me – for the safety of us all, and for our success. Will you pray that, no matter what we may face, that we _will_ return with this cure offered to us by this angel of mercy so far away. Will you pray with me that our strength will not fail, though tried by fire."

All four nodded solemnly and fell to their knees, each in turn offering up their prayer to the Almighty.

* * *

The Admiral had advised her that talking via such a medium as a communicator would be unwise, so she had arranged to meet him somewhere inconspicuous, somewhere no one else would be likely to stay.

Elisa walked past headstone after headstone, noting the names and dates of birth and death on each one. Some had eulogies on them, and some were bare. Some were ornate, others plain.

It was raining now, but the rain stank of the tsarebetim. It reminded her of how little time their world really had. If everything she had read and seen about this damage to Gamilon the world had less than ten years remaining before it died completely. It would be an unlivable wasteland filled with noxious gas and poisoned earth.

She felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she thought of everything she'd lost here – her home, her parents – her son…

She reached the place, a small grave marked with great care, "Deror Lysis. Date of birth: 1/4/2190. Date of death: 5/9/2198."

She read the words and couldn't help but cry for her son whom she'd lost to the very disease that plagued their world. He had been struck down by the tsarebetim.

That had been the worst night of her life. After Leader Desslok had taken the throne from his usurper brother they had all hoped that everything would return to some form of peaceful normalcy, then she and Dommel had awoken one night to find that their son had been dragged from his bed in the middle of the night by some madman intent on taking him hostage to get their attention. Deror had done nothing wrong; he had been innocent in the entire affair. He was only eight!

The Leader and his second in command, Masterson Talan had found the boy in the clutches of a man named Fiske who served the Malha. Somehow he too had come in contact with the tsarebetim and died shortly after they'd found Deror.

The boy's body had to be burned to prevent it from spreading the plague. Elisa hadn't been able to watch.

"Elisa."

She looked up when she heard her name. "Admiral." She said, glad to finally see a kind face.

"You seem to bear a heavy burden, my friend." He said quietly, "What is it you have come to me about?"

"The Leader." She said, "I don't think I can go along with what he's doing anymore."


	29. Episode 27: A Man Named Dietz

**Episode 27: A Man Named Dietz**

"What do you mean, Elisa?" Raymond Talan asked, his voice low. "What has happened?"

"He – we all saw a horrible display of his attempts to destroy the Eratite ship. He believes they are coming to kill us. But I cannot believe that. Why would they do that? How would they even know where we are?"

"They are coming here?" The Admiral's eyes grew wide.

"From the projections we've seen. Yes." Elisa replied, "Either here or to Iscandar, and there's no reason they would be going there."

Raymond didn't say anything for a while and Elisa looked at him with concern, "What is it?"

"Elisa, there's something you should know about that ship – something my son told me."

"Masterson? You've talked with him?" she said, "Where is he? Has he returned?" her eyes were bright with hope at the possibility that the one person who could possibly stop the Leader from going on with this crusade against this one ship might be here.

"He is still on patrol on the far outer edge of Gamilon's territory. He would not be able to make it back here for some time even if he _were_ called back I'm afraid."

"Oh…" Elisa said, downcast, "I had hoped…" she began, looking away from the Admiral, down at her son's grave.

"I know…" the Admiral sighed, "I hoped that he would have been called back already, but I fear there is something else going on – something much darker than we could guess." He paused, "What exactly happened to cause you so much distress?"

"He – the Leader sent out an entity of some sort to devour the ship – a gas I think, but it behaved like no gas cloud I've ever seen. It looked like it was seeking out the ship – following it – like it had a will." She shivered, "But how could that be?"

Admiral Talan thought on her words then replied, "There is a way, but I pray I am wrong about it."

"What?" Elisa asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer, but just as afraid not to know what was going on.

"It _did_ have a will; but that will was not natural, the only way that such a thing could be true is that another presence took the cloud as its host."

Elisa swallowed hard, the days with the rakabim and Leader Desslok's renegade band came back to her. There had been so many times when they had faced the forces of Hell itself – quite literally – but Masterson had always been at their side, telling them that all would be well and not to fear the great darkness that the Usurper's forces had often carried with them.

The zealots had borne that spirit of darkness with them as well, though they had had the power to wield it as they wished, summoning the shédiim to do their bidding and slaughter whatever enemy they might find.

Elisa remembered a time she had witnessed Masterson destroy one of the foul things with a mere name – the name of Mashiach.

"I never thought I would see the say that Leader Desslok would find himself in league with the very forces he sought to destroy when the Usurper reigned…" Elisa whispered, "If that is indeed what is happening, I cannot sit by and allow what happened before to happen again. Another king ruled by the darkness of the shédiim will destroy us all."

"I know." Raymond replied, "And I agree, but there is little we can do openly to stop it."

"Surely there are others who know at least a little of what is happening. Surely there are those who do not agree with it." Elisa said in indignation, "We cannot let this happen again."

"There _are_ a few." Raymond replied in a near whisper, "I will let them know of your sympathies." He looked around, making sure no one was near them.

The graves were deserted.

He turned back to Elisa, "There is a man named Dietz."

* * *

"So what'd you all talk about up there?" Derek asked Nova as she waited for the computer to complete its calculations for the warp.

"Nothing you'd want to know about, I'm sure." She replied without a single look in his direction.

"Aw, come on. Just tell me a little bit. Mark wanted to know too. Was it about the warp?" he prodded.

"No." she replied simply, not saying anything more.

Just then the computer finished its work and relayed the information to her personal device. She looked through the information, making sure that nothing had gone wrong in the calculation. She didn't want to leave anything to chance on a warp. After all, this was still very new to them all – the computer included.

"Not even a clue?" Wildstar persisted.

Nova was getting impatient with his nagging, the stress of the encounter with the dark presence had put her a bit on edge.

"Alright, fine." She said sharply, looking up at him, "That was no gas cloud chasing us, Derek." She said frankly, then walked away, calculations in hand.

"Huh?" Derek said, taken aback both by her tone and her words. _"Not a gas cloud?"_ he wondered. _"What was it then…?"_

The possibilities started to roll through his brain, but nothing made sense to him. He raced after Nova. "What do you mean?" he asked as he caught up to her, "What's got you so jumpy?"

"I'm not 'jumpy.'" She retorted, then her tone softened, "I'm sorry, I just…" she sighed, "That gas cloud wasn't just some phenomena that we happened to run into." She looked over at her friend, "It was the spawn of Hell."

Derek looked at her like she'd lost her brain, "I'm sorry, what?" he asked, "You're telling me that was some kind of demon or something. I don't even know if I believe in that kind of thing or not."

"Well, believe it, Derek. They exist and they're after us." She replied with candor, "You can honestly tell me you didn't hear or see anything strange during that encounter?"

"Nope." He said shaking his head, "Not a thing – though it did get a little colder than normal. Like the temperature dropped when it got closer to us…" he thought about that for a moment, "Which I guess _is_ rather strange considering we were going through a star…"

They were almost back to the bridge now.

"Okay, so it was little strange." He admitted, "But how did you come to the conclusion that some evil spirit is chasing us?"

"Because we heard it – felt it – saw it. I smelled it too." She said, looking sick.

"You mean you and Homer and Sandor and the rest?" he asked.

Nova nodded, still looking ill.

"How is that even possible?" he asked.

"Because there is more going on here than you know, Derek. I'm afraid this is something you can't understand."

"Oh, I get it, this has something to do with that 'faith' of yours or something like that." Derek rolled his eyes.

"It does." Nova said just as they arrived at the bridge and their conversation stopped abruptly as the door opened and they walked back into the ship's command center. "The calculations are ready for the warp, Captain." Nova said, sending the data over to Mark's terminal. "We can go as soon as the ship's ready to make the jump."

"Thank you, Miss Forrester." The Captain nodded to her.

Nova and Derek both returned to their stations without another word to each other.

Mark looked at Derek with a questioning look, like _"Why were you out there with her?"_

Derek just shrugged back and gave him a clueless look.

"Venture, begin the countdown for warp." The captain ordered and Mark's attention returned to where it was supposed to be.

He watched the screen as the numbers sped down from ten to zero.

They warped.

* * *

"So what was all that about?" Mark asked Derek over a late meal after they'd finished their warp and earned a little down time during shift-change.

"What?" Derek managed around a mouthful of food.

"That thing with Nova. You came in with her. I figured you were talking or something." Mark said.

Derek swallowed his food, "I asked her about what the Captain wanted her and the others for. I wasn't about the warp." He downed a gulp of what the cafeteria called "juice." It was more like bland sugar-water.

"So what was it?' Venture prodded, curious.

"Something to do with that gas cloud."

"What about it?" Mark asked, picking at what was left on his tray and making faces at some of it, much like his little brother Jordy would do with his brussel sprouts – back when they could get them, that is.

"Oh, they think it was some kind of demon or something."

Mark laughed, "A what? Are they serious? I respect the captain and all, but I have no idea how they got _that_ out of what we saw."

Derek didn't answer for a second and Mark started to wonder what he was thinking, "You don't seriously think they could be right, do you?"

Derek stared at his tray, "I didn't think I did…" he replied, "But after thinking about it for the rest of the shift…" his voice trailed off, then he began again, "I mean, who's to say they're wrong?"

"Okay, just because you have some sort of crush on Nova –" Mark began.

"I do not." Derek denied. "I'm just saying that maybe there _is_ something they can see other than what the instruments told us. What if there's something more out there besides just what was can touch and see?"

"Great, my buddy's going all philosophical on me." Mark rolled his eyes and shoved another bite of food in his mouth.

"I'm just trying to see the situation without taking sides." Derek said, "I can't say that what Nova said isn't true. I wasn't in her head when it happened."

"Okay, maybe not." Mark replied, "But are you going to believe everything she tells you from now on? And what about Royster down in the lab? Are you going to believe everything that comes out of _his_ mouth too?"

"That's not what I said." Derek replied, "I just think that she might have been telling the truth – at least, what she thought was the truth."

Mark shrugged, "Okay. I can respect that. But I still think you need to be careful about believing her. She has some strange ideas about some stuff."

Derek chuckled, "Yeah, I know." He looked around and suddenly noticed their subject of conversation sitting on the other side of the mess hall eating with Homer.

She caught his eye and he couldn't stop watching her. He looked at her face as she talked with the comm officer. It was soft and kind, and her brown eyes gave off a sense of well-being that he had never seen in anyone else. She smiled and he noticed how much prettier she was when she was happy.

"Hey!" Mark kicked Derek's shin under the table, "You're staring."

"What?" Derek asked, clueless, "Oh…" he quickly tore his eyes away from Nova and looked back at his food.

"Don't have a crush on her, huh?" Mark huffed, "Tell me another one, Wildstar."

Derek didn't reply, just started eating slowly, feeling like he'd just seen something more wonderful than he ever had in those brown eyes – like a whole other world was there that he wasn't a part of. But he wanted to be.

* * *

Elisa stood outside a magnificent house, waiting for someone to answer her request to enter.

She looked around, making sure no one was around to see her enter the house. As she waited she wondered, _"How did such a man as Gul Dietz ever garner such sympathy for the Eratites."_

The thought led her back to what _else_ Raymond Talan had revealed to her after he had told her about Dietz. The ship was not heading here to Gamilon. It was going to Iscandar. The Queen herself had offered the Eratites the gift of new life in the form of the Rophi Shamayim – the device that had once cured Iscandar of the devastation caused by the Cometines a hundred years ago. The device had lain dormant in the vault below the palace on Iscandar since then, but now the queen was going to give it to the Eratites.

It was such an unbelievable story - the princess Astra had taken a message all the way to Erats by herself to tell them of the hope they offered, and the Eratites had responded by building a great battleship and sending it out here to receive the great gift.

Who would have thought such a thing possible? And who would have thought that the Leader would have no idea that this plan was being executed right under his nose without him knowing even the slightest bit about it? It was a miracle of Adonai that Astra had gotten to Erats alone, even _she_ would admit that. But the even greater miracle was that the Eratites had mustered enough strength to build such a ship as the one she'd seen.

She'd never seen anything like the strange thing. It was beautiful in a way – majestic – like it sailed through the stars carrying the sense of purpose of the entire planet of Erats. And maybe it did. There was something about it… Even in the short time she'd seen it she'd sensed it. There was something else about that ship, like it was being borne along by more than just its engines.

Just then the door to the house opened and a short, older woman invited her in.

"Come in, dear." She said, "I am Babette, the housekeeper; welcome to the Dietz household. You are Elisa?"

"Yes." Elisa nodded.

"We've been expecting you." The housekeeper motioned towards a door on the other side of the room, "The Admiral is waiting for you in there. I'll be in with some tea in a moment."

"Th – thank you." Elisa managed and walked slowly towards the indicated door. The room beyond looked homey, like a study or quaint living area – not at all what she'd expected the inside of the house to be like at all.

She passed through the doorway and immediately stopped. On a couch to her left sat a middle-aged man with an impressive scar over his left eye.

"Admiral." She bowed to the man.

"Please don't." he replied, "Here we are allies, not admiral and councilor."

Elisa smiled a little and moved to take a seat across from Dietz.

"Is your husband well these days?" he asked as she sat.

"I…" she stopped, thinking for the first time what Dommel would think of her being here, "haven't talked with him since he left for Balan. He's due home soon though. I hope he isn't sent back out, but I doubt I will get that wish." She said, downcast.

"I understand." Dietz nodded, "My own daughter has been dispatched to the same front. Melda was just home a couple of weeks ago though. Her ship just managed to return after their encounter with the Eratite ship. It's a miracle they made it back at all. That engagement was costly for our fleet. Colonel Gantz's force was hit hard."

"I know." Elisa said, "I just saw the remainder of the fleet this morning."

"This morning? They've returned?" Dietz asked, surprised.

"No… I did not see them in person…" she took a deep breath, "That is part of the reason I've come. Did Admiral Talan tell you what I said to him?"

"He did." Dietz nodded as Babette came in with the promised tea and two cups. He nodded his thanks to the housekeeper and she left them alone again.

Elisa reached for the cup that had been poured for her and Dietz picked up his own and took a slow sip.

"He said that you have come to see things as I and my friends have." Dietz offered.

Elisa nodded slowly, "The Leader… he brought us out of a great darkness – the rule of the Usurper. He saved what remained of Iscandar from that plague. He gave us back our home. But now… it seems he has succumbed to that darkness himself…" her eyes became glassy, "I never thought…" her voice trailed off.

"I know." He said, "You may not remember, but I was a part of that group – the rakabim*. My daughter was only twelve when it all began – when the Leader gathered us and we became his army."

"Wait – " a small memory suddenly surfaced, "You – your daughter played with Constance – the pale girl, the daughter of Garen Krenshaw's friend."

"I remember Constance." Dietz nodded, the chuckled, "Quite a child as I remember – very little tact she had, but she had the courage to say what she thought when it mattered."

Elisa smiled a little remembering the girl as she had been back then, "She did."

The space between the two grew silent, but this time was not an awkward one, instead it was filled with shared memories.

Elisa looked Dietz in the eye, "So you understand what I saw then and what I see now."

"I do." Dietz said simply, "I see, and I cannot allow it to happen – not without a fight."

"What can we do? How many others are there?"

"There are a few dozen right now." Dietz replied, "But that number will grow when we reveal more information about what's really been going on."

Elisa nodded, "Good. But back to the question, what can so few do against an entire empire?"

Dietz's eyes seemed to bore into her with purpose and he said, "We did it once. We can do it again."

At this, Elisa nodded, feeling hope well up inside her at the thought that they could do something to help the Eratites – to stop the brutal pursuit the Leader had taken up to slaughter the Eratites before they reached Iscandar and received the life-giving device they'd been offered.

"So where shall we start, Admiral?"

* * *

**Episode 27: Notes**

*** **Rakabim - a group of dragon-riders in Desslok's service during the rebellion against his brother, Deun the Usurper


	30. Episode 28: Hotline

**Episode 28: Hotline**

Night had fallen, and Starsha stood alone in her quarters. They seemed so large now that she was the only one who frequented them. At least when Astra was here she visited sometimes, but now… She just hoped her sister was alright and aboard that ship making the voyage to Iscandar.

Starsha turned to look out on the Sea of Iscandar as her father often had in days past. Moonlight shone atop the waves as they rippled along, kissing the beach and retreating over and over.

So much had happened since the Eratite ship set sail, and she had heard so little from Masterson during that time. She had begun to wonder if he was alright since he hadn't contacted her in weeks.

She had contemplated calling him, but decided not to in case her signal was intercepted by Gamilon. She paced back and forth in front of the grand window, wondering where that ship was right now. Since the core had not alerted her, she knew it was safe, but for how long? How long could they stay out of Gamilon's sights?

She looked up and saw her sister-world hanging there among the stars. It glittered golden-green, its scars becoming worse every passing week. She felt a wave of sadness role over her as she gazed upon it. She remembered when Desslok had come to Iscandar not more than a year ago. He had cleansed her world of the terrible plague, taking time away from his own sick world to save hers.

The day she'd met him she knew he was a man who, once he set his mind to a course never faltered in completing it, though the way be more grueling than anything he had ever experienced. He had gathered an army under impossible circumstances; he had freed his people from one who shared his blood – and his face. His own brother had terrorized the Gamilon people for years before Desslok had taken his brother's fist of iron and crushed it.

The Malha's forces had scattered, the terror had ended, only to give way to another. After the Usurper's exile Gamilon's diseased state had come to light. The Usurper had planted the death seed and now his brother sought a way to remedy it. Desslok had tried unsuccessfully to eradicate the plague from Gamilon's soil. Thankfully the strain that infected Gamilon wasn't deadly to the people, only their planet.

She and her sister had offered to help Desslok and his people find a new home, even help terra-form it if the need arose, but the Leader had declined. He thought it would take too long to accomplish such a feat as that. Starsha had wept bitterly when she'd discovered what course he had chosen.

Instead of taking a deserted world for his people he had chosen to continue with a plan his brother had set into motion years before. Deun had somehow found their ancient home – "the point of Creation" they had all come to call it – a planet called "Erats," "Earth" as the Eratites called it. He had planned to sterilize it – murder the entire population and move his own people there after he'd restored the world with the technology the Rophi Shamayim was based on.

Starsha's heart caught in her throat as she thought of it again.

She sighed, trying to hold back the tears.

She stared at Gamilon, thoughts of Desslok rushed through her mind. The memory of those deep green eyes staring into her own hazel ones flooded her soul every day. She prayed every time that vision came to her. She prayed that one day she would see light in those eyes.

She looked around, blinking away her sorrow. Her eyes caught something white across the room lying on a chair.

She squinted into the darkness, trying to figure out what it was. She took several steps towards it, then, realizing what it was she quickly went and picked it up.

Her Interface! Suddenly all the memories of Desslok's time here on Iscandar washed over her again and she knew what she had to do.

She slipped the glove-like apparatus onto her left hand, hoping that she would be able to do what she must.

The Interface came up and asked it its characteristic voice, "State your command."

"List available Interfaces." She said.

The thing took a moment to scan the network then chimed back with the answer she most wanted to hear, "Interface 3 is active. Do you wish to connect?"

"Yes." Starsha said softly, returning to the window and reaching out to touch the glass covering the world she hoped might still be renewed one day soon – the world whose ruler's fate she now realized she cared very much about.

Why else – she thought – would she had defended him to Alex? Why would she not have forgotten about him by now?

She waited for the other Interface to answer.

* * *

Desslok started awake, feeling as though something were there in the room watching him. The sensation had come more and more often as of late and his nights had become shorter and shorter as a result. Some nights he didn't even bother to sleep at all – just like the old days before he'd overthrown Deun.

The events of the day felt surreal: seeing the Eratite ship coming ever closer, trying unsuccessfully to stop them.

He stared into the darkness.

He'd long ago given up keeping a light lit to try to ward off whatever presence lingered in the shadows. Tonight was no different. He couldn't see it, and thankfully tonight he couldn't hear it either. The presence spoke no guttural words of death; neither did it utter its sick laugh. Tonight it merely watched.

The presence surrounded him, taking in his battle scars, his weary heart, his darkened soul.

But tonight there was something different in its gaze. It was as though it sensed something was about to happen, though what it was, he could not venture a guess. He only wished that, whatever it was, it would go ahead and happen.

The anxiety in the air was so thick he thought he might choke on it.

"And what has _you_ so jumpy, my friend?" Desslok whispered into the darkness.

Just then he chanced to see a low glow emanating from beside his bed. He looked over at it, wondering what it was.

He reached down to pick the thing up and realized it was the Iscandarian Interface. Its glow was shining through its glass case.

He took the box and brought it up into his lap. The light somehow set him at ease. He opened the box and took out the item, then smoothly slid it onto his left hand.

Before he found out what the thing wanted of him he got out of bed and walked to the window. It stood floor to ceiling, wall to wall, the view uninhibited by anything but support braces for the enormous expanse.

He looked up and saw the one sight that could still grant him the vestige of a smile. Iscandar, in all its beauty still stood there in its stately grace, grazing down upon him, as though the Queen herself was looking at him this very moment.

He held out his hand to access the Interface.

"Interface four wishes to connect. Do you wish to accept the call?" the computer voice said.

"I do…" he replied quietly.

Almost immediately the face of Starsha appeared before him.

The instant her face appeared the heavy presence he could never shake lifted, as though Starsha had somehow frightened it away. Her eyes were sad.

"Starsha…" he said quietly, "How may I help you?"

* * *

She looked at his face, and though it was dark she could see him clearly… and the fact that he had just woken and wore no shirt. She fought her embarrassment, turning her eyes away for a moment, but as she did her gaze caught something, a scar – now faded – laid out across the top of his chest like a proud battle banner.

"You… got that during the rebellion…?" she looked pointedly at the badge of honor.

"Yes." He nodded, "In a fight with a shéd-wielder. He managed to get past my guard once – and only once. He died an instant after his blade dealt me this." He laid his other hand over the mark. "It is nothing." He said, "I have been given much worse. I still bear the marks from those ordeals."

Starsha felt sad in a way she never had before, "I am sorry for what you have suffered… for my sake."

Desslok looked into her eyes and his emerald gaze seemed to brighten, "I would have done whatever needed to be done… for you sake…. Starsha of Iscandar."

"And I would have done whatever was necessary to help your people find a new home…" Starsha replied softly, "I have heard what is happening, and I cannot let you destroy a world…" she felt his gaze sadden.

"You do not understand, Starsha." He replied, "They will die if I do not do this."

"I can help you, Desslok, please. If you stop now all can be made right." She replied, her voice pleading. "There is no need to involve innocents."

He looked away from her and she thought she saw tears in his eyes for a moment, "Innocents have already died by the thousands since the beginning of this travesty…"

"But no _more_ need die." She offered. "Please… You have the power to save them. Why will you not offer that life to them now?"

"Because I cannot." He said flatly, turning his eyes back to hers.

She shivered as she saw the deadness that had overshadowed those green orbs.

"I do not understand…" she replied quietly.

"I know." He replied sadly, the life returning to his eyes, "I am not able to explain I am afraid. Just know that I do this for my people… and for you…"

"What has happened, Desslok?" she asked, knowing now that something was dreadfully wrong.

The Leader did not answer, he merely stared at her, almost as if he were trapped in some other world trying desperately to get out.

An answer came to her, but she prayed she was wrong, "Desslok, have you made a pact with the shédim?"

She waited for an answer.

The man opened his mouth to answer, but stopped. He looked away again. Then he took a breath and looked her in the eye, "I am not like my brother. I will save whoever I can, but your life and the lives of my people are my first concern. If they are threatened, I will act as I must."

Starsha's eyes widened, "No…" she whispered nearly inaudibly, tears beginning to well up in her eyes and spill down her cheeks, "You cannot…"

"I have only done what I must." He replied just as quietly.

"They will destroy you, Desslok." Starsha said, her voice unsteady, "They will possess you and take your will. They will do terrible things in your name."

He stopped her, "Do not fear," he said with a sad smile, "I am told by the malakhim themselves that I am the 'anointed one,' and they cannot inhabit me as they please."

Starsha breathed in sharply, "Do not do this, Desslok, please, I beg of you!"

"I must go, my Queen. I thank you for the moment of relief from the darkness that now surrounds me. You have become my sanity in this world of madness I have found myself in…" Desslok's face suddenly disappeared from before her.

She did not know what to do – what to say. What _could_ she say? Desslok's last words had gripped her heart, and they echoed there even now. She knew she would never forget those words; she only hoped that he would understand that there was but One source of healing for his shéd-blighted mind…

Right now the reigning emotion in her heart was fear – fear for this man's safety. There was no one to help him should he need it. She knew the servants of the shédim had had something to do with that.

"_Father, do not let them take him as they did his brother; do not let this ransomed one go without giving him another chance to let You lighten his dark soul…" _she let her tears fall silently as she reached out again to touch the world she had just spoken to. _"If ever you need my help, I will do whatever I can – give you whatever I can to help you, even my life if it were needed…"_

The thought then came to her - what was going on here? Was it not truly Deun's idea to destroy Erats? What she had just hears seemed to indicate that it was not. But had he known he was a pawn in a much bigger, horrible game? She could not know.

A soft blipping sound emanated from the front door of her apartments.

She let her hand drop to her side, "Enter." She said.

"Hey." Alex Wildstar's voice echoed through the room. "You sounded kind of sad. I thought I'd check on you." He said slowly, "Who were you talking to?" he asked in the best Iscandarian he could muster.

Starsha did not turn to face him, lest he see her tear-stained face. "A… friend."

* * *

Desslok stared up at Iscandar, wishing he could have spoken with its queen longer, but he didn't want whatever lay in the darkness to know too much about Starsha. He carefully removed the Interface and returned it to its case. It lay dark now that its message had been answered.

He started to set the box back where it had been, then thought better of it. Instead he placed it prominently on a nearby table where he knew he would see it should it come to life again.

He stepped away from the Iscandarian device and returned to bed. As he lay there trying to sleep he couldn't help but think of the woman he had just spoken with again.

He remembered their first meeting, over a year ago now. She was just as beautiful now as she had been then. He wished she had come to Gamilon with him then. If only she had been here… perhaps everything would have been different.

He looked around the dark room expecting to feel the oppressive darkness returning. Only then did he realize that his bleak companion had not returned.

A feeling of inexpressible relief rested on him instead and before he knew it he was asleep.

* * *

Miezella sat in her quarters raging over what she had just heard. "He spoke with _her_?" she spat the word. "How could you let him do such a thing?" she challenged the shéd who was now too afraid to return to the Leader's quarters for a while.

"I had no choice, servant of my Master." It said in its strange language, "I did not know what he was doing until it was too late."

"Do _not_ let him do it again." Miezella snarled, "It is _far_ too dangerous to let her know anything. Why was he talking to her anyway?"

"She called him." The rumbling reply came.

Miezella huffed, "The nerve." And stuck her nose up in the air, "Who does she think she is?"

"She is Queen Starsha of Iscandar, servant of the Enemy – "

"I _know_, shéd!" Miezella bellowed in its general direction. "You needn't remind me of her associations. Does the Master know of this?"

"He does now." The shéd replied.

"And what does he say?" Miezella asked.

"He… says that you should watch him more closely." The spirit replied.

"Me?!" she exclaimed, outraged. "_You_ are the ones the Malha asked to remain by his side day and night. And who is there now?" she asked, pointing in the general direction of the Leader's quarters, "No one! That's who! And all because you're afraid of one little woman!"

"I beg your pardon, fellow servant, but it not the woman whom I fear…" the air itself seemed to shiver in fear, "It was the Presence she bore…" the spirit's tone changed and it spoke quietly, "_He_ was there…"

Miezella waited for the spirit to continue, quite angry.

"Once she appeared, I could not stay. I tried to remain, but the Presence took me and I could not resist its bidding. It made me go, otherwise I would still be there."

"Go back right now." Miezella seethed.

"I cannot." The spirit replied, stoking Miezella's anger all the more.

"And why not?" she demanded.

"I… was told not to… until the rising of the sun."

"And you can't just disobey?" she asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"My will is in the hands of the Enemy." It said, "I could not do as I wish, even if I tried to."

"You spirits are so troublesome." Miezella let out an irritated sigh. "Very well, I shall stand outside the door myself until it is light. As soon as your will is _returned_ to you, go."

"Yes, fellow servant." The shéd replied, then it hesitantly asked, "May I stay here until I am released?"

"Afraid are we?" Miezella mocked.

"I am." It replied simply. "You should be too."

"Psht!" Miezella scoffed, "Afraid? No one but the Malha commands such a thing as fear from me, spirit." With that she left her quarters and ascended the many levels to the Leader's quarters. There were two guards standing outside the door as there always were no matter what time of day. The women stood alert as ever, looking around with care.

"I will take watch until morning." Miezella said as she approached the two women.

"We have no orders to cut our watch short." One of them said and the other agreed.

"I wish to ensure the Leader's safety myself tonight," Miezella said.

"We cannot leave our post, Councilor Celestella." The first woman said, then the second one added, "But if you wish to join us, we would be glad of the company."

Miezella inwardly sighed, _"I suppose it's the best I'm going to get."_ She thought.

"Very well." Miezella said, "Then join you I shall."

She took up a post between the two women.

The watch was uncomfortable as she did not like standing for so long, but that was not the most disturbing element of the rest of her watch.

As she stood she could feel a strange prickling sensation always at her back. No matter how far she craned her neck she could never see what was causing the feeling. She gave up a few hours into the watch. Once she had the sense grew stronger and by the morning she felt as though her back were being burned off.

She cursed under her breath as she left the door when the first breath of dawn appeared. She felt like she had been leaning against a furnace all night.

She arrived back at her quarters, passing the freed shéd on her way back, glad it was again _his_ job to stand watch.

Once the door to her quarters was sealed she rushed to the bedroom and peeled off her uniform, trying to sooth the burning pain on her back. It felt like the fire of a red star.

"Sister!" Mirenel exclaimed, having walked in on Celestella, "Your back! What happened?"

"What is it?" Miezella asked, a bolt of genuine fear choking her.

Mirenel took her sister's shoulder and steered her towards a mirror.

"Look," Mirenel said, pointing into the glass.

Miezella turned to look into the mirror and suddenly she knew that the dark spirit had been right to be afraid.

There on her back was seared a mark in the shape of an eight pointed star.

She understood, the warning more than clear.

There would be no stopping Starsha of Iscandar from contacting Desslok. She could not be touched by them. And if they tried to stop her… there would be dire consequences.

Their Enemy had made His move. Miezella shivered, knowing the Master would not take this well.


	31. Episode 29: Perspective

**Episode 29: Perspective**

Dara still felt sick from the trip through the gate, but she hid it decently enough so that none of her shipmates noticed – not even the ones who had been friends with Melda, the girl whose face she wore.

She carefully made her way around the ship during the sabbatical. They were to make another gate jump sometime soon, this time to the Eratite's galaxy, but they were stopping for a brief time so that the captain could receive instructions from General Lysis.

Things were starting to happen now that they'd reached Balan. The strange world was a molten mass from what she'd seen – nothing too special about it, except the ring of Aquarius gates stationed around it. It seemed to have been some sort of hub sometime in the past. Many of the gates were still offline, but the ones they needed had been maintained well since they'd been activated.

She dreaded the thought of their next jump. She'd seen things, felt things that she hoped to never see or feel again. It had reminded her too much of her encounters with the shéd-wielders all those years ago.

She shivered at the thought. The place even stank of the foul spirits.

She made her way back to her quarters, hoping to be able to sleep for a while between her frequent trips to the simulator. She'd recently found out that Melda had been one of their best pilots.

When she'd found that out she'd winced, knowing that she was barely passable at the skill. Since then she'd logged as many hours as possible behind a fighter's controls. She still wasn't as good as she thought Melda probably was, but at least she wouldn't die in a fight – she hoped.

Maybe it wouldn't come to that. Perhaps their mission to the Eratite's galaxy was more covert than provoking a fight.

From what she had heard Colonel Gantz's fleet – what was left of it – was still on the strange ship's tail, though they'd lost it briefly. Everything she'd heard about the ship didn't indicate that they were there to destroy Gamilon. It seemed like they were looking for something other than a fight.

According the reports she'd seen, the ship had avoided confrontation whenever possible instead of throwing itself into an all-out fight like a hostile would have. They had only even fired when fired upon.

Something about this was odd to Dara. Why would Leader Desslok, the man she'd come to know in the Gamilon wilderness as a friend, seek war with this one ship? Why wouldn't he just let them go on their way? Surely they couldn't undo the plans he had for Gamilon to gain control of Erats.

When Dara had boarded she hadn't known of everything transpiring on Gamilon since her departure, but she had quickly learned through various means that the Leader had chosen to pursue the conquest of Erats as Gamilon's new home.

She didn't know how she felt about the death of millions on Gamilon's behalf. She was torn between sympathy for those whose home was being taken and heartache for those she knew whose home was dying from the inside out, crumbling beneath their feet as it breathed its last.

She couldn't reconcile the two perspectives, even after reading Melda's notes on the subject and finding her secret letter written in coded Iscandarian. She didn't know if she would ever be able to decide between the two.

How could she condemn so many to death to help herself – her family who she'd only recently found out about? But how could she go against the man she now knew was her own brother? How could she go back to him and tell him that he was wrong to care so much for his people? She couldn't do any of those things…

She stepped through her door. It hissed shut behind her and she immediately locked it.

She stepped over to her bunk and sank down on it, starting to cry.

"_What can I do? Why can't I make a decision?"_ she thought.

"_All hands, prepare for gate travel."_

The ship's computer droned again.

Dara wiped her tears and sighed heavily, dreading the sights that awaited her, but she gritted her teeth and waited for the jump.

It came too quickly.

She squeezed her eyes shut during the short journey, but that didn't block out the sounds or the smells of the place.

She heard an unnerving scream. She wanted so badly to open her eyes and see where the sound had come from. She struggled to keep her eyes closed.

The sound came again, but this time it sounded familiar.

"_Constance!"_ her eyes flew open and she looked wildly around the cabin. Suddenly a ghostly hand rose up out of the floor and took hold of the leg of the one chair in the room. The phantom pulled the rest of its ethereal body up out of the floor. It looked straight at Dara and sneered.

Dara stared at the thing. It _looked_ like her daughter, sounded like her daughter, but there was something dreadfully wrong with it. Its eyes were black, dead. Its skin was stark white, as though it had been dead for years.

The sight frightened Dara and she immediately shut her eyes again, but that couldn't stop the thing from speaking.

Its voice was guttural and hollow. She couldn't listen to it. It was too horrible.

She opened her eyes to find her pillow so that she could cover her ears with something thicker than her hands, but when she opened her eyes the apparition was so close to her face that if she had moved another inch she would have been nose-to nose with it.

Dara gasped, then held her breath in fear, eyes wide.

Then the thing spoke to her.

"_Daratina of Gamilon…" _it growled, _"You have abandoned your daughter in her time of need. She it mine now."_

"No!" Dara screamed at the thing, flailing at it, trying to send the phantom away.

It laughed harshly, _"You cannot bid me go, silly woman."_ It laughed harder, _"Your brother tried to send me away too. He is now mine as well. And _you_ will be mine soon too, princess."_

Dara was horrified at the knowledge this spirit had of her. She had told no one of her ties with Gamilon's Leader. And she certainly hadn't told anyone who she really was.

"How do you know all these things, spirit?" she asked.

"_My Master knows much."_ It replied, _"You may be able to fool these others,"_ it gestured to the rest of the ship, _"But know that _I_ know who you are…"_ it said, then in her daughter's voice it finished, _"Why haven't you come for me, Amah? I'm afraid!"_

Then the thing cackled and disappeared, the jump through the gate now over.

There was pounding on her door.

"Melda! Melda, you okay?" a woman's voice asked.

"Yeah!" Dara replied, breathing hard after the encounter.

She indicated that the computer should let the other woman in.

The door opened and in stepped the same woman she'd run into her first day on the ship, "Emma" she thought had been the name the girl had given.

"I thought you weren't affected by gate travel." Emma said taking a seat beside Dara and patting her on the back comfortingly.

"I…" Dara searched for words, "didn't think I was." She replied.

"Ah, happens to the best of us." Emma smirked, "I heard the XO had to be tranquilized to make it through the last one – this one too."

"Really?" Dara asked, some of the edge of the phantom's words taken away by Emma's friendly presence.

"You've been kinda strange lately." The girl said, "Staying to yourself more than usual, and flying a lot. What's up?"

Dara swallowed hard and looked down at the floor, wondering what the real Melda would have said, then she decided on what she thought was best and said, "The trip home was hard."

"Ah…" Emma said, knowingly, "You had a fight with your Dad, didn't you."

"No…" Dara replied, not really wanting to lie to Emma any more than she had to, "It was just hard going back when I knew I was going to have to turn around and leave again so soon."

"I get it." Emma said, "I kinda felt the same way too. Had to say good-bye to my sis and her family much too fast. I live on the other side of the planet from where we docked so my visit was pretty short – few hours actually. She's havin' her baby soon, maybe right now." Emma smiled at the thought, "I'll have another nephew."

"Wow." Dara said, "So what're they doing about the tsarebetim in their area?"

"Don't you remember?" Emma said, "I told you they'd moved into an underground complex away from those things."

"Oh, right." Dara replied, "Sorry, I'm just still out of it."

"It's okay." Emma replied brightly, "You're a lot nicer to me than most of the other pilots onboard. Most of them just think I'm some country girl. You always just let me talk about my family."

Emma patted Dara's back again, "How _is_ your Dad doing anyway? And that housekeeper you talk about?"

"Uh…" Dara began, trying to remember as much about Gul Dietz and Babette as she could, "They're fine."

"Great. Can't be too careful these days what with everything going on on Gamilon right now. At least those awful zealots are gone."

"Yeah, really." Dara replied.

"Didn't like 'em much myself." Emma said, "Always causing trouble everywhere. Have you heard any of the stories they tell about when the Leader fought them to take control of the planet?"

Dara nearly laughed aloud at this but instead she managed a measured, "Yeah, some."

"There's this one about how the Leader killed a hundred zealots single-handedly." Emma said, eyes wide, "You believe he did that?"

Dara knew the day Emma was talking about. It had been the last major push through the zealots' defensive line. "Yeah." She nodded, "I do," she, remembered the sight of Masterson standing back-to-back with Desslok, each man defending the other against the tide of death descending on their position.

"He's going to save us from this awful thing that's killing out planet," Emma said with conviction. "I just hope we can finish what we've set out to do before Gamilon dies and whoever's left planet-side doesn't have a chance to leave…"

Dara nodded, thinking of everyone she'd left on Gamilon, knowing that she wouldn't want any of them to die because of that terrible death Deun had unleashed on them all, guilty and innocent alike.

"I hope so too…" she said, sincerely, beginning to see what her brother had seen when he'd first laid eyes on the Eratite ship – a threat to his peoples' life.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go back to my room." Emma stood to go, but Dara stopped her.

"Thanks for talking," she said, "I feel a lot better now."

"You're welcome, Melda." Emma said before disappearing out the door.

"_I understand you better now, Desslok,"_ she thought, _"Maybe you're right about this…"_

"_All hands prepare for warp."_ The computer droned again.

Dara sighed in relief; at least they weren't jumping through another gate this time.

She lay down on her bunk. Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep.

* * *

Nova sighed as she sat down on her bunk.

"What are you sighing about now?" asked Feria, one of Nova's friends from the Academy who had come to Nova's room for an evening of coffee and word games. "It's not that Wildstar guy from the bridge is it?"

"Please, no." Nova said, "He's so arrogant. And sarcastic. Not to mention disrespectful to the Captain."

"Psht!" Feria laughed, "From what I hear he's pretty good at what he does though."

"True." Nova replied, rubbing her tired eyes, "But he still shouldn't talk back to the Captain."

"Leave that to the Captain to take care of, Nova." Feria said, "He's not a helpless old man."

Nova laughed at this, "No, he sure isn't. Can you believe he's the one who hijacked the _Yamato_ project from General Stone?"

"From _Stone_?" Feria said in disbelief, "You mean the most pig-headed man in the entire EDF let the Captain take his pet project?" She put down a word that was entirely too long for Nova to pronounce and declared, "Your turn."

Nova stared at her pieces, wondering what she was going to do with two Z's, an X and four L's. "He's friends with the Commander, so I'm pretty sure Singleton pulled a few strings along the way, especially after he heard that message from Iscandar."

"You heard the message?" Feria asked, "How?"

"I was stationed at EDF HQ that day. The Commander had his entire staff gather in one of the conference rooms and watch it. Queen Starsha seems like an interesting person. I hope we get to meet her when we get to Iscandar… And that we can give her her sister's body… for proper burial on her homeworld." Nova looked down at the floor, thinking about what the queen had already sacrificed on their behalf.

"Yeah…" Feria nodded, "I hope she has someone she can talk to when she finds out…"

There was silence between the two young women for a while, then Nova finally laid down two of her L's. "Your turn."

Feria studied her letter for about three seconds then made an amazing move earning her triple points, plus a couple of letter bonuses.

"How do you always do this?" Nova asked.

"Do what?" Feria asked, taking a sip of her piping hot coffee.

"Destroy any hope I have of winning this game." Nova took a sip of her own coffee.

"Mwahaha!" Feria laughed in her best evil voice, "I am the Master of the game, puny human! You cannot defeat me!"

Nova nearly spit her coffee right into Feria's face and laughed. "Is that your impersonation of whoever the leader of Gamilon is?"

"Nah." Feria shook her head, "I'm sure he – or she – is much stuffier than that, either that or he's some crazy person." She said, doing her best imitation of someone who clearly belonged in a nuthouse.

"Stop!" Nova said, laughing so hard she could barely stop, "Just let make my measly little word in peace, will you."

"Whatever." Feria replied, "You know you can't win."

"Maybe not this one, but I'll bet I can win the next one." Nova replied, putting down two more letters.

"In your dreams, amateur." Feria said, making another move, "I'm the one who read the dictionary for fun as a kid."

Nova set down the last two letters of the game looking with annoyance at the score, noting Feria's three hundred point advantage and shaking her head.

"So what were you sighing about earlier?" Feria went back to the original topic.

Nova looked away from her friend, sighing yet again, "Well…" she began, "Did you feel anything when that gas creature tried to kill us?"

"Yeah…" Feria replied in all seriousness, "That was freaky. I told the guys I had to take a break from working on my plane. They didn't get it I don't think, except Conroy. He seemed really spooked too, but he just kinda laid low and hid out in his plane for a while after that. Said he was 'cleaning the seats.' What happened on the bridge?"

"Captain Avatar called me, Homer, Sandor, and Orion to his quarters. We all had seen or felt that thing coming for us. Some of us even felt it die…" Nova hugged herself, shivering a little at the bitter smell she remembered. "Then Wildstar corners me before the warp and wants to talk about what the Captain said to us four since none of us talked about it."

Feria rolled her eyes, "Thought he was entitle to an answer?"

"I guess." Nova replied, "I didn't want to tell him, but he pushed the issue so I told him."

"You did?" Feria said, surprised, "What'd he say?"

"Not a lot – for him. He didn't really believe me. At least, that's what he said." Nova replied.

"Why do you say it that way?" Feria asked, noting the strange tone in her friend's voice.

"Well, I was eating with Homer that night at dinner and he was telling me about some stuff he and his cousins had done when they were younger. I looked over at Derek – eating with Mark like usual – but he was staring at me with this weird look on his face."

"Maybe he has a crush on you." Feria said, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms over her black flight jacket.

Nova raised a skeptical eyebrow at her, "Right." She said, "Like he would like me when I disagree with half of what he says or does."

"Hey, I'm just throwing it out there," Feria put her hands defensively. "This ship isn't getting any bigger after all."

"I know." Nova said, getting up to get some more coffee. "But it would never work." She said.

"_I _ know that, and _you_ know that." Feria pointed first at herself then at Nova, "But does _he_ know that?"

"I hope so." Nova said, "A lot of things would have to change for me to even look twice at him."

"Yup." Feria nodded, "I know. He'll figure it out eventually."

Nova came back with her coffee and was just about to drink it when alarms blared through the ship. "All hands to battle stations."

Nova groaned and started to pull on her jacket.

"What're you doing? I thought your shift was over." Feria said, hurrying to leave.

"I'm pulling a double. Miki's sick." Nova said, rushing out the door after Feria.

"See ya." Feria waved as she rushed down the hall to the Tigers' meeting room.

Nova ran to the bridge, making it just in time to see a Gamilon fleet assembling right on their doorstep. She sighed fir the third time that evening. _"Great…And I didn't even get a decent amount of coffee."_


	32. Episode 30: A Fateful Meeting

**Episode 30: A Fateful Meeting**

Nova stared at the host that had gathered to oppose them.

She bemoaned the fact that they couldn't get even a moment's peace lately. It had been one encounter after another it seemed.

She looked down at the radar station, fighting off the feeling of drowsiness that had come over her upon her arrival on the bridge.

"Forty ships, Captain. Five destroyers, the rest escort ships. No carriers, thankfully." She summarized what they were seeing for Avatar.

"Are they moving?" the captain asked.

"No." Nova replied, "Not at the moment. They haven't launched any fighters yet either."

"They didn't know we would be here." The captain said thoughtfully. Then he said over the ship-wide comm, "All crew to battle stations"

Within a few minutes all officers were on the bridge replacing their off-shift counterparts. Some were yawning, others, rubbing their eyes, and one even had one boot half-zipped, but all were present and ready to fight at their captain's behest.

"Captain, incoming fire coming straight towards us." Nova announced just as Derek was taking his seat at the combat chief's chair.

"Venture, evasive maneuvers." Avatar ordered.

"Aye, Sir." Mark was moving almost before he'd sat down.

_Argo_ dodged the blasts, but just as she did another wave came right on the heels of the first. This one was impossible to dodge.

Venture nearly cursed at the ships staring at them from out in the void.

The ship shook. Hard.

"Damage report!" the captain barked.

"Decks eight and nine have been hit. No critical systems damaged. The crewmen in that area are putting out a few small fires." Sandor supplied.

"Wildstar, take aim at the enemy fleet and fire at will." Avatar commanded.

"Aye, Captain." Wildstar affirmed the order and relayed it to the men at the turret controls.

Within five seconds they were firing back at the enemy and hitting their mark.

Wildstar watched the battle carefully, adjusting the gunners' target priority and silently celebrating as one of the destroyers went down.

"Captain, they're releasing something." Nova interrupted Derek's concentration.

"Fighters?" Avatar asked.

"No, Captain." She shook her head. "They aren't moving like fighters. They seem to be spreading out between the enemy ships and us – like a wall."

"Sandor, any idea what they are?" Avatar asked the science officer.

"Not yet, Captain. Still scanning them." Sandor paused for a moment then exclaimed, "Mines!"

"Mines?" Derek asked from his station, confused. "What on Earth are they sending out mines for?"

"Whatever the reason," Sandor said, "We can't move forward to engage the Gamilons at any closer range without putting the ship at risk. And the mines are too close to shoot them down. The detonations would tear us apart."

"How many are there?" Avatar asked.

Nova waited for half a second to answer, then finally said bleakly, "Thousands, Captain."

"Let's just back up and shoot a hole in their mine field." Derek said.

"Venture, full reverse thrusters immediately." The captain ordered.

Mark obeyed and _Argo_ began backing away from the mines.

"We're not getting any farther away from them." Nova said, "They're following our movements." She looked up at the captain, eyes wide, not sure what was happening and not liking the problem they'd just stepped in one bit.

"Sandor?" Avatar looked to his XO for an answer.

"I would need to have one of the mines to give you a definitive reason for their behavior, but it seems there are several possibilities: they're controlled remotely by someone on one of those ships; they're programmed to follow our movements even when out of range of the Gamilon ships; they're attracted to metal; or they've malfunctioned and are simply moving on their own." Sandor supplied.

"Venture, slow us down to one half speed." Avatar said.

Venture cut the thrusters down to half.

"Captain, the mines are slowing to match our speed." Nova said.

Avatar nodded, "So they're either controlled remotely, or they've been programmed to follow us."

"Can't we just turn the ship around and warp out of here." Derek put in.

"There's no room to turn the ship." Sandor countered, "They're gradually getting closer to us, and they're already too close to safely turn without hitting them. And chances are, even if we did manage to turn around, the energy surge from the warp would set them off and we'd be jumping through space with half the ship blown away."

"What about – " Derek was cut off by Nova's anxious voice.

"Captain, they've launched fighters." She interrupted.

"Forrester, Sandor, are the mines surrounding us?" Avatar asked both officers.

"No, Captain." Nova answered.

"And I don't think they will." Sandor said, "They aren't moving to hem us in, merely to halt our forward progress – make us pay a price if we intend to push forward."

"Launch the Black Tigers." Avatar said. "I assume the hangar doors are still clear."

"Yes." Nova replied, feeling a tiny breath of relief at this small mercy. "No obstructions."

"Wildstar, get down there." The captain ordered.

Derek jumped up and was out the door in three seconds.

* * *

"_Rakiah Cobel_?" Gantz asked. "I thought they'd been lost during the first engagement with the Eratite ship."

"We thought so too, Colonel." Bane replied, "But they've just returned from Gamilon with orders from the Leader himself to rejoin us. They've just gate-jumped all the way from Balan."

"But there are no gates in this area." Gantz replied.

"There are now." Bane said flatly, "The exploration team just finished mapping this one two days before _Rakiah Cobel_ made her jump."

"Cutting rather close now, aren't we." The Colonel said quietly. He'd never really liked gate travel. He found it too strange for his liking. Too often he'd seen his daughter Hilde during their gate travels these past weeks and months. Every time he saw her, he knew he might never lay eyes on his only child ever again. They had yet to find out where Hilde had been taken. No one even knew if she was still on Gamilon, or one of her colony worlds.

"There's more, Colonel." Bane's voice took on an odd quality that made Gantz freeze where he stood. "Melda Dietz is aboard that ship – has been since before the assault on that Eratite ship."

"Has she been reporting to the Prime Minister all this time?" Gantz asked, voice low enough so that only Bane could hear him.

"No, Colonel." Bane replied, "Her transmissions stopped shortly after that first assault."

"Why?" asked Gantz, "She's never left such a gap in her communications for so long before."

"Unknown, Sir." Bane replied, "All we know is that she's been aboard the _Cobel_ the whole time – except for a two day period when the entire crew was given shore leave on Gamilon."

"Anything odd happen during her leave?" Gantz asked, genuinely puzzled by the Storm Leader's silence.

"No." Bane replied, "She went home, stayed until she had to leave for the ship and went straight back the to _Cobel_. No stops anywhere."

"Perhaps the Prime Minister told her there was no need to send her reports unless she thought it necessary." Gantz said.

"Perhaps." Bane nodded, "But with the Prime Minister off-world and not in regular contact with anyone else in the fleet, that would be impossible to know."

"Then shall we wait to draw any conclusions about her strange behavior lately?" Bane asked, "According to the ship logs, she has been spending far too many hours in flight simulation since _Cobel_'s crash. And when she is not using the simulator she stays in her quarters."

"You've traced her every move?" Gantz looked over at Bane, eyebrow raised. "You really suspect something's happening."

"Yes." The simple answer came, "Something is odd here. Perhaps the Leader should beware his second-in-command. After all, he _was_ sent off-world because of his… sympathies."

"You think he would issue orders to the Storm Leader that might threaten the taking of Erats?" Gantz glanced around the bridge, wondering what exactly was happening – if anything.

"I don't know." Bane narrowed his eyes at the rest of the bridge crew, "But I wouldn't rule it out."

"In light of Miss Dietz's behavior… I agree. Contact anyone onboard _Cobel_ who might be enlisted to watch her." Gantz said.

"I have just the person." Bane said.

* * *

"_Incoming encoded message."_ The computer droned.

"Open it." The Gamilon pilot accepted the correspondence, placing her palm on the reader.

"_Identity confirmed: Lieutenant Emma Maier. Permission to access message granted."_

The computer displayed her message.

She stared at the screen for a long time before sending an acknowledgment.

"I'm sorry, Melda…" Emma whispered.

Suddenly the alarm blared, _"All hands to battle stations."_

Emma took a deep breath and stepped out of her quarters, heading for her fighter's hangar bay.

* * *

"Conroy, you take half the Tigers and harass those last two destroyers. See if you can get them shooting at each other." Derek ordered his ace who flew beside him through the black of space.

"Yes, sir." Conroy shot Derek a salute out his cockpit window then peeled off with his half of the group.

"The rest of you, follow me. We're going to take out these fighter planes. Don't let them get near the _Argo._" Derek didn't even wait for his team's acknowledgement. He shot forward, heading right into the dogfight, guns blazing.

* * *

"_What have I gotten myself into?!" _Dara thought in terror as her bright red fighter shot out of the carrier and into space. _Rakiah Cobel_ had just arrived at the site of the Eratite engagement and they had no idea what to expect. All they knew was that a mine-net had been laid and the ship was trapped behind it.

"_Disengaging autopilot."_ The computer said.

Dara started to sweat. This would be her test. After all, if she couldn't survive a head-on conflict with the Eratites, then she wasn't fit to be impersonating this young woman, who apparently had flown circles around Gamilon's best.

She squeezed her eyes shut, remembering all the practice hours she'd crammed into her head. She let her eyes open again and looked ahead with fiery determination. She took the controls and put her heart into flying. She swooped into the fray, spraying fire across the front of one of the enemy planes sending it limping away, a smoking mess.

She dodged and weaved through enemy fire. She knew her adrenaline level must be insanely high. Her reflexes were at their peak, and she felt like she could fly forever. As long as her focus remained constant nothing could touch her.

She flew until she was out of the thick of the fight. All of the sudden the Eratite ship appeared on her radar.

"_Target acquired. Missiles armed."_ The computer startled Dara, knocking her out of her daze.

"What target?" she asked.

"_The Eratite ship is the designated target for this mission."_ The computer replied. _"Missiles will fire in five seconds."_

"No" Dara exclaimed, a sudden feeling of doubt coming over her. "Disarm them now!"

"_Please enter the proper override code for this action."_ Came the irritating reply.

Dara began to panic. With five seconds she had one try, maybe two to figure out what the override could be.

She thought for half a second, then started desperately guessing.

"'Melda Dietz.'" She tried.

She was rewarded with a blaring error.

"_Three seconds until missile launch."_

Dara wracked her brain, thinking of everything she knew of this girl whose face she'd taken. Suddenly something so utterly random came to her.

"Three, zero, four." Dara tried the reference for the first Tanakh passage the girl had marked.

"_Missile launch aborted."_ The computer replied.

Dara let out a relieved sigh.

Her left thruster exploded, sending the computer into a fit of errors.

"_Damage to port engine and thruster. Damage to fuel intake system. Damage to weapons systems."_

"Shut up already!" Dara scolded, "What happened."

"_We've been hit by enemy fire. Suggest evasive action immediately."_

Dara's heart started pounding, she was hit. She'd been so distracted that she hadn't seen anyone approaching her position. She mentally kicked herself and if she'd been a cursing woman she'd have let a few choice words fly.

She tried to push her wounded ship out of the area, but when she tried to the ship didn't respond.

"Computer, what's going on? The ship won't respond to anything I do." She started looking around frantically, trying to figure out how to send a distress beacon, or call one of her wing mates to help her.

Another explosion rocked the ship.

"What was that?" she asked, the feeling of being trapped growing and sticking in her gut like a load of bricks.

"_We've sustained another hit."_ The computer replied, _"All communication is now impossible."_

"Who's out there?" she asked angrily, checking her radar in futility. The instrument flickered on and off. Clearly the thing had been effected by one of the two hits she'd taken.

"_Unknown"_ the computer replied,

"_Oh, that's helpful."_ She thought sarcastically, trying to push down the panic she was nearly drowning in. What was going to happen to her now? She was too far from her ship to have a hope of being rescued. Then a thought came to her. "Do the seats in these fighters have an 'eject' function?"

"_Yes."_ The computer replied.

"Then eject me!" she shouted at the A.I.

"_Ejection function has been disabled."_

"Why?"

"_It is damaged."_

"Gahhh!" Dara exclaimed, so frustrated and afraid that she had no words.

"_Radar function partially repaired."_ The computer announced. _"Enemy fighters approaching from port and starboard."_

A chill of fear ran through Dara. "Are they going to finish us off….?"

"_Negative. They appear to be launching a tether."_

"_A tether?"_ she thought, _"But why?"_

She looked out her cockpit window. Just as the computer had said, on either side of her there was an Eratite fighter. One was gray, the other yellow and black. A second later she felt two soft thunks, one on either side of her hull.

Before she knew it she was being towed right into the hangar bay of the Eratite ship.

The reality of everything fell on her and the panic she'd held at bay overcame her.

Her vision started going black. Then everything disappeared as she passed out.

* * *

"Colonel Ganz!" one of the bridge crew suddenly turned to his superior with a look of horror on his face, "The Storm Leader has been captured!"

"What?!" Gantz exclaimed, then demanded, "How?"

"Her ship was disabled while she was making a missile run on the Eratite vessel." The crewman replied, "Her weapons' system malfunctioned at the last second and she wasn't able to launch any missiles. Two Eratite planes came in and shot her while she was trying to re-arm."

"Pull the mine-net off of that ship immediately." Gantz ordered.

"Aye, Sir." Came the reply.

"_This is the last thing I need." _Gantz gritted his teeth in frustration. "We must protect the Storm Leader."

* * *

"Captain, the mines are – they're moving away from us!" Nova's surprise was evident in her voice. "The Gamilon fleet is pulling back."

Avatar nodded, accepting this strange good fortune.

"Call all the Black Tigers back." He ordered, "Once they're all aboard, warp us out of here."

"Aye, Sir." Venture, Sandor and Nova replied, immediately beginning the preparations.

* * *

"That's everyone, Captain." Wildstar told the captain over the ship's comm.

"Keep everyone in the hangar until the warp is completed." Avatar instructed.

"Yes, Sir." Derek acknowledged, then passed on the captain's orders, making sure everyone and everything, including the Gamilon ship they'd somehow managed to capture, was secured for the warp.

Scarce seconds after he'd finished his rounds, the ship disappeared into the distorted state they called "warp." The last thing he did before they disappeared was turn his eyes to the enemy plane, feeling the old anger starting to rise in him again for everything the Gamilons had taken from him in this terrible war. When that pilot woke up, there would be a reckoning.

* * *

"They've warped, Colonel." Bane informed Gantz.

"Follow them – but at a distance. We can't lose them now that they have the Storm Leader. We must get her back." The Colonel ordered.

His order was immediately obeyed and the helmsman and tactical officers proceeded to trace the warp trail of the Eratite ship. Once they'd found it, they made their calculations and warped.

* * *

Dara blinked, trying to clear her vision. She didn't know where she was.

She felt strange, cold. She looked around, but all she saw was white everywhere. The room was utterly alien to her. She couldn't see well in this place. There was too much light. Her eyes weren't used to this level of brightness.

She raised her hand to shade her eyes. When she did she noticed to her great chagrin that her pilot's uniform had been traded in for a plain white gown of some sort. Her boots were gone and her feet were getting quite chilled. But the worst of it was that her helmet was gone too. She frantically felt inside her ear for the mask emitter. She nearly cried with relief when she felt the tiny disc still securely attached.

She looked down and saw a white blanket covering her from toe to shoulder, but she still felt cold, even with the covering.

She looked around again, seeing a little more now that her eyes had adjusted a bit.

She was lying on a simple bed in a small room. Some sort of monitoring equipment was behind her, bleeping softly in a constant rhythm. Was that her heartbeat?

She didn't have time to look at any more of her surroundings. The door at the other end of the room opened and in stepped a woman. Dara's eyes widened at the sight of her.

She jumped out of bed and pointed at the woman, exclaiming, "Astra! Astra of Iscandar!"

* * *

Nova walked into the captured pilot's room for her hourly check on the woman. Maybe she would be awake this time.

Almost as soon as she'd stepped through the door the woman shot up out of her bed and started pointing frantically at her uttering an assortment of incoherent words, she wasn't sure what it was, but Nova knew that something had made the woman excited. She looked down at her uniform, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"_What is she so agitated about?"_ Nova thought, confused.

Whatever the cause, the woman kept repeating what sounded like the same two or three words over and over while pointing right at Nova.

She slowly approached the pilot, hand outstretched, trying to be as non-threatening as possible.

"Please," she said to the Gamilon, "Calm down. I came to see if you were alright."

The other woman didn't understand Nova's words, but something had gotten through to her because she lowered the volume of her exclamations and sat back down on her bed, still staring at Nova and speaking the same thing – a name? But whose? It certainly wasn't Nova's.

"Captain…" Nova said over her communicator.

"Yes, Miss Forrester." The Captain's voice replied.

"I think we may need Sandor down here. The pilot's awake and she's talking. I can't understand her though."

"He's on his way now." The captain replied, "Keep her there until he arrives."

"Yes, Sir." She said, then turned back to the Gamilon woman.

"Where's the pilot?" Wildstar exploded through the door.

"Derek! You shouldn't be here –"

"I heard he woke up." Derek seethed, nearly knocking Nova over as he brushed past her, heading straight for the Gamilon.

"'He' is a 'she.'" Nova retorted, then saw the rage in Derek's eyes. She reached out to pull him away from the other woman. She caught his arm, but he ripped it out of Nova's grasp.

Nova didn't have time to react. An instant later Wildstar had his gun jammed up under the pilot's jaw.

"How can you do this?!" he demanded, "How can you slaughter millions for no reason?!" he caught a handful of the woman's dark red hair and pulled her up, forcing her to look into his tortured face. "You killed my parents, my brother, my friends! And now you'll pay for their lives."

"No!" Nova threw herself right at Wildstar, praying she had enough strength to knock the bigger officer off of the pilot.

She hit him. Hard. Pain shot through her shoulder.

That was when she heard Derek's gun fire a single shot.


	33. Episode 31: The Day the Bombs Fell

**Episode 31: The Day the Bombs Fell**

"_Where's the bus?"_ _eight year-old Derek asked his mother. "It was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago." He craned his neck to see down the street._

"_Be patient, dear." He'll be here soon. "I'm sure they're just running a little late."_

_Derek sighed and looked down at the pavement. Just then he heard the sounds of a large engine approaching. He looked up and grinned as the bus pulled up to its stop and the door slid open._

"_Alex!" Derek ran to his brother and gave him a big hug._

"_It's good to have you home, Alex." Their mother said, coming to hug her older son too._

"_Hey, Mom." Alex hugged her back then turned to his little brother, "Looks like you've grow while I've been gone."_

"_Yeah, a little." Derek said. "So what've you been doing?"_

"_I'll tell you all about it when we get home, okay." Alex patted his brother on the head, "Come on." He started off towards home as his mother and brother followed quickly, happy that Alex had returned from his grueling Academy training – at least for a while._

* * *

_Back at home the conversation was heated. Derek's dad had invited several friends from work over and they were talking with Alex about the bombings._

_Derek stared at the gathering from the far doorway, wondering if they would ever leave and let him have some time with his brother._

_He waited for a long time, hoping at least some of them would leave. He looked at the clock. It was already getting late. The clock read 9PM. At this rate he would have to go to bed before his brother was free to do anything other than talk about this awful disaster._

_Finally he gave up and sneaked away up to his room._

_He shut the door and looked around, trying to find something he could look at until Dad's friends finally left._

_Off in the corner he saw his science project from last school-year. He picked up the shadowbox and stared at it, studying the dozen or so butterflies pinned to the backing. They were still so vibrant. Even though they weren't alive anymore they still held just a little bit of the spark that Earth used to have… before the bombings had started._

_Everything had changed that day. It was like the world had just come apart. No one knew what would happen next. When they had discovered that an alien force was bent on the destruction of Earth…_

_He thought he would see Alex more often than this. Ever since his brother had joined the Earth Defense Academy a year ago they had seen him maybe three times for a week at the most. It seemed like every time he came home he got called back for some reason._

_Derek knew it was all important, but why couldn't the military just let their family be happy together for a little while – like they used to be._

_The boy started to cry. What little time he would have with his brother was now much shorter. He just wished the grown-ups would leave._

"_Derek…?"_

_He heard his door slowly creak open._

"_Derek, what's wrong?" his mother's voice echoed through the sparse room._

_Derek shook his head and said tearily, "Go away."_

_His mother didn't go away. Instead she knelt beside him._

"_I always liked your butterfly project." She said, "This yellow one is my favorite." She pointed to a large butterfly near the middle of the group. "I know we don't see them much anymore, at least around here…" she looked at her son and, noting the tears, reached out to wipe them away, "What's wrong?"_

_Derek didn't say anything for a while, just ran his fingers over the plastic cover of the shadowbox, tracing the butterflies' wings. Then he took a breath and said, "I just wanna spend time with Alex. And I can't because all the grown-ups are crammed in downstairs talking about the bombs," he looked up at his mother, "That's all they do! Just talk!" he said, suddenly angry, "Why can't they just go out and help some of the people whose homes are gone? Why can't they help with food distribution or something? Why can't they just leave us alone?" he started crying harder._

"_I know, Derek…" his mother pulled him close, "I'm sorry you can't be with your brother right now… They'll be gone soon."_

"_But it's late." The boy sniffled._

"_Don't worry about that, Derek." His mother smiled, "You can stay up as long as Alex does tonight."_

"_Really?" Derek asked._

"_Really." His mother replied, "Just don't let your father show him any of the rockets you've been building out back. The last thing we need tonight is grumpy neighbors."_

"_Okay, Mom."_

* * *

_Derek and Alex talked long into the night, even after their parents were asleep. They talked about everything that had happened to them both while Alex was away at school._

_Finally, they drifted off to sleep in the bunk bed in Derek's room._

_All was quiet until, out of nowhere, an explosion ripped through the still night._

_Derek yelped in surprise and jumped out of bed. Alex nearly toppled over the railing on the top bunk trying to jump down._

"_What was that?" Derek asked Alex._

"_A bomb." Alex said soberly. "They've finally managed to hit this area."_

_Derek didn't understand, "What do you mean?"_

"_Before now we haven't really been hit by anything. Yeah, there have been a few hit near the coast, but nothing this far inland."_

_Another explosion rocked the house._

"_Derek, we've got to get Mom and Dad up." Alex motioned for his little brother to follow him, "And I have to get in touch with my squadron leader."_

_Derek nodded, eyes wide and followed his brother to his parents' room. They were already awake and coming out the bedroom door._

"_Alex, what –" _

"_Bombs, Mom." Alex interrupted his mother, "I have to call in. See if you need to go anywhere."_

_Alex pulled out a cell phone and made a call._

_Within a few seconds someone had picked up._

"_This is Alex Wildstar. I'm with my family in Kanto." He said, then listened for a moment before replying, "Yes, of course, I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up._

"_They said you're safe where you are for now. But I have to leave. They've called everyone back. Apparently there are bombs coming down all over the country."_

"_Oh, Alex." His mother hugged him, in tears, "Be careful."_

"_I will, Mom." He hugged her, then let her go, "I'll be back as soon as I can," he said to Derek and gave him a good-bye hug too. "Bye, Dad." He hugged the last member of his family, then ran back to the bedroom to throw on his uniform._

* * *

_The bombardment lasted for two solid months, and it wasn't just Japan that was hit. Countries all over the world reported bombs falling in hordes everywhere. It was the worst nightmare anyone could have imagined._

_The death toll rose into the millions and the wounded who made it to medical facilities almost always died within a week. The few who survived were irreparably disabled._

_Whatever kind of radiation the bombs were laced with, it was killing them all, and rather quickly._

_It was soon apparent that they would all have to leave the surface and move underground. Cities were constructed and all who could move did. Even the Academy moved all the facilities they could underground, but they left several bases on the surface._

_One day Derek went to visit his brother at his post. Most of the public transportation had been stopped due to the high risk of traveling on the surface, but Derek wanted so badly to go and see his brother that his parents relented and let him go for a day._

_The car the base had sent to the bus stop to pick him up pulled up to the main building and let the boy off. He looked around for his brother and it wasn't long before he heard Alex's voice calling his name._

"_Derek! Over here!" Alex waved from a bench over by a grassy patch in the shade of the big building._

_Derek ran over to his brother and sat down next to him. "Here." He held out the package he'd brought, "Mom sent this with me. Said you'd probably be hungry."_

_Alex opened the package, "Mom's sushi!" he grabbed a seaweed-wrapped rice and fish roll and bit into it. "Can't get this here. The Academy cafeteria doesn't take the time to make anything this good. Tell mom thanks when you get home."_

_Derek nodded and watched his brother eat._

"_What're you waiting around for? There's no way I can eat all this by myself." He pointed at the food, "I know you're hungry too, I could hear your stomach the second I unwrapped the sushi."_

_Derek's face brightened and he grabbed a roll, "Thanks." He said, around his first bite._

_The two ate in contented silence for a while_

"_How many times have you been out in space?" Derek asked._

"_Twice since I graduated last month." Alex replied, picking up another sushi roll, then paused, "Derek… how're Mom and Dad? With all the bombings I mean."_

"_They're okay I guess." Derek replied, "Dad thinks we need to move into one of the underground cities. He signs the paperwork today."_

"_That's probably for the best." Alex nodded, "I'm glad you're all okay though. A lot of the people here have heard that their families were killed or wounded in the bombings."_

_Derek nodded, "Yeah… it's bad…"_

_The two sat in silence again, neither one of them feeling like eating any more. Then Alex broached the topic he'd wanted to bring up for a while._

"_Derek, you'll be old enough to enroll in the Academy in a few years. Once Mom and Dad get settled why don't you come back for a visit – stay a while and see what we do here?"_

_Derek shook his head._

"_I know you don't like fighting." Alex said, "But sometimes you have to do it to protect the ones you love."_

_Derek didn't say anything._

"_You don't have to make a decision right now, but at least think about it, okay?" Alex said._

_Derek nodded reluctantly, "I'll think about it."_

* * *

_The day had gone much too quickly. Derek had gotten to see where his brother worked and lived and even met several of his friends, including a strange quiet one who liked to stay in the labs most of the time._

_Everything had gone well and he was ready to go home._

_The transport arrived on time and ferried him to the train he would take to the bus station._

_He boarded the train. It was old and seemed like it needed a good washing from all the smog and dust it had been traveling through these past many months since the bombings had intensified._

_He sat down in his seat and waited for his stop. Everything seemed to be going well until he heard the sound he'd learned to dread – a high whistling, almost like a referee would make during a sports game. It was the sound of death. _

_Derek jumped out of his seat and huddled under it, hoping that wherever the bomb hit, it wouldn't be near the train._

_Ten agonizing seconds later he felt the emergency brakes engage. They squealed, almost louder than the bomb. Then he was thrown across the cabin as the train slammed into the bomb debris scattered over the track ahead._

_Derek didn't yell, didn't scream; he simply reached out and grabbed the nearest seat and held on for his life._

_He lurched this way and that, breathing hard as people screamed everywhere around him while the car rolled onto his side. _

_Finally, the train stopped moving and he could see clearly again._

_The window a few seats down had been bashed in so he swung from one seat rail to the other until he was right below the opening._

_He crawled out and looked up at the darkening sky. That was when his blood froze. There on the horizon was another plume of smoke rising from a second bomb that looked like it had landed right on top of the shelter his parents were working at today._

_He looked at the train. It would never run again, not after this._

_He jumped down off of the car and took off running in the direction of the cloud._

_He went to the bus station to see if he could still catch a ride, but when he got there the only thing left was a gutted wreck where the station had been._

_He felt his stomach clench into a sick fist and kept running past the ruins. He ran and ran, longer than he had ever run in his life._

_Finally he reached the bus stop where his parents were going to meet him, but instead of a sign and a covered bench, all that was there was a giant crater. _

_He looked around frantically._

"_Mom! Dad!" he ran through the area, heedless of the radiation he was probably exposing himself to. All that mattered to him was finding his parents._

_He scoured the crater, looking for anything he could find._

_Then he saw something glinting in the dirt just outside the far rim of the crater. He ran to it and reached down to pick it up._

_It was his mother's necklace, the one his father had given her in this very spot the day he'd proposed since he didn't have a ring._

_Then he knew. He parents were most surely dead._

_He fell to his knees and cried until a squad came to check the area for survivors._

* * *

Dara kicked the man with every ounce of strength she had. She felt her bare foot connect with something. The gun lodged under her chin flew out of its place and went off.

Dara screamed in surprise and managed to get loose from the Eratite's hold.

Just then she saw the woman – Astra she thought – had tackled the man and was now on top of him, pinning his gun hand to the floor.

She was yelling at him in a language Dara couldn't understand. Fearing for her life, Dara hurried around the other side of her bed and huddled down behind it, trying not to be seen.

* * *

Derek was in a rage. Nova held him down as long as she could, but she wasn't heavy enough to hold him down for long.

He pushed her off and jumped to his feet.

"Where'd she go?" he demanded, looking with fiery eyes everywhere for the Gamilon. "Where are you?!" he bellowed, his voice filling the room with its intense hatred.

He started around the bed and discovered her on the floor, curled into a ball.

"Get up and fight!" he challenged the woman.

She looked up at him, confused, pleading with him with her green eyes to leave her alone. She hid her face in a show of attrition, but Derek would have none of it. He reached down and hauled the Gamilon to her feet.

She tried to jump away from him, but he caught her in the jaw with a quick punch.

At this something changed in the woman and she flew at Derek, landing punch after punch on him, sending him reeling backwards. He slammed into the wall, but that didn't make him quit.

"You think you can stop me that easily? You'll pay for all those you've murdered!" he came at the pilot again, fists flying.

"Derek, stop!" Nova's voice broke into his enraged haze and he hesitated for a second.

In that instant the pilot leapt around him and put him in a sleeper hold.

His vision started going black and half a second later he was down, unconscious on the floor.

* * *

Dara laid the man down on the floor and then stepped away from him. The woman who had to be Astra stepped slowly towards Dara and reached out a hand again.

Dara looked at her with fearful eyes. Was she angry that Dara had had to knock the man out?

The look in the other woman's eyes made Dara relax just a little bit. Her eyes were definitely Astra's.

Dara had not had the opportunity to meet Astra of Iscandar before, but she had seen pictures and video and she knew that Starsha was still on Iscandar; at least she had been when Dara had left Gamilon, therefore, this couldn't be Starsha. She didn't walk like the queen of Iscandar. Her steps were more bold and less formal than the queen's.

She took the woman's hand and stepped over her downed attacker.

"Astra of Iscandar." Dara tried again to address the woman.

* * *

Nova helped the pilot over Derek's unconscious body, both relieved and disturbed. She looked at the pilot with questioning eyes.

Once she'd cleared Derek's body and come to stand beside Nova on the other side of the room the pilot pointed at Nova again and said the same name as before.

Nova shook her head, "No." she said, then pointed to herself, "I'm Nova."

The pilot looked at her, obviously very confused, then repeated Nova's name questioningly. Her name sounded strange rolling off of the Gamilon's foreign tongue, but Nova was glad she'd at least made a little headway communicating with the pilot.

Just then Sandor and Homer burst through the door.

"What happened here?" Sandor demanded, seeing Wildstar passed out on the floor and Nova and pilot huddled as far away from him as possible. Then he saw Wildstar's gun lying on the floor some distance away from him.

"He attacked her." Nova said reluctantly. "I don't know how he knew so quickly that she was awake, but almost as soon as I told the Captain he ran in here and tried to shoot her."

Sandor's eyes clouded and his face grew dark. "Security, you're needed in the quarantine area down in the medical bay." He said into his communicator.

"Aye, Sir." Came the reply. "ETA is one minute."

Sandor put the device away and proceeded to haul Wildstar up off the floor and singlehandedly laid him on the bed the pilot had occupied. He strapped the younger man to the bed, just in case he woke up before the security team got there.

* * *

"Now that we're alone," Sandor said as the door closed behind the last security attendant, "Miss Forrester, I think you may need to go too."

"No." Homer said, looking at Nova, "She can stay."

"Are you sure, Homer?" Sandor asked.

"I'm sure." The comm officer replied.

"What's going on…?" Nova asked, feeling very in the dark.

"What you're about to see and hear is not to be told to anyone else onboard the ship." The XO directed.

"Okay…" Nova replied, unsure of what she was agreeing to keep secret, "I won't tell anyone."

Sandor nodded to her, then told Homer, "Please, go ahead."

* * *

Dara stared at the two men, studying them. At least they hadn't grabbed her and tried to kill her like the other man had. Then there was the woman who wasn't Astra, this "Nova."

She sat on the bed as the three Eratites seated themselves in chairs opposite her.

She looked at them curiously.

Suddenly the man in yellow and black began to speak, and to Dara's surprise she could understand him. His speech was strange and little backward, but she could tell what he meant well enough to understand.

"I'm Homer." He said. "Who are you?"

"I'm –" she began, then thought about what to say. Should she even be talking to these Eratites? She might reveal something she shouldn't. The doubt ate at her until she looked at Nova again. She might not be Astra, but there was something about her that made Dara want to trust her. She looked into the eyes of the two men and saw in them the same thing she'd seen in Nova.

She began again, "I'm Melda Dietz."


	34. Episode 32: Sentinels of Fear

**Episode 32: Sentinels of Fear**

"_Elazar…"_ the ethereal voice floated through his consciousness. He was out walking the perimeter of the Sentinels' fortress as he usually was. He wanted to venture inside today. Every several days he would go in, in his avatar-form, to see more about what the servants of the Malha were doing.

Nothing much had happened so far, at least, not while he'd been there.

"_Elazar…"_ the woman's voice came again. He recognized it as belonging to the First of the Nine, so he returned from his journeying as a white fox.

"I am here." Elazar replied to the voice. "What is it?"

"_We have found out that the Eratite ship is being stalked by servants of the Malha. We do not know what they intend to do, but we have discovered that they have already boarded the ship once. They were frightened away by something and have not returned, yet they still follow her." _the voice informed him.

"How did you come across this information?" Elazar asked.

"_Mariposa overheard it while she was in the Tower not an hour ago."_

"She was in the Tower?" Elazar asked, afraid for the girl's safety. After all, her abilities in stasis were far more limited than his. He could appear and disappear at will, leaving no trace. Mariposa, on the other hand, faded in and out of visibility unpredictably. If her avatar phased too far into the spectrum of visibility, the Sentinels would surely see her and know that she was still here on Phantom, and possibly nearby. Then the hunt for the lost princess would never end.

"_She has gone there before."_ The sleeping woman said, _"She has heard much of no consequence, but today she heard more than they would ever want her, or any of us, to know."_

"What else did they say?" Elazar asked.

"_The Malha has found a prize and is returning here for a time to see if she can learn its secrets. Mariposa said that the Sentinels called the thing some sort of amulet. It seems that the Malha acquired it on a world not far from here."_

"And what is so special about this amulet?"

"_It is no mere trinket."_ The voice replied, _"It would seem that this is the very first amulet ever minted for the Guardiana followers. It is the original."_

Elazar did not reply for a minute. He thought about what little he knew about the Guardiana followers. He had learned some when he had been back on his home-world, but his knowledge had been woefully incomplete. Now that he'd been among the Sentinels for several years he had learned much, but the story of the Guardiana line was still mostly lost to him. He knew the names of a few of the women who had housed the demon-spirit of Guardiana over the centuries, but that was the extent of his knowledge of their lineage, though something in him screamed of danger every time he was near the Sentinels, and when the Malha was near he could smell an odd stench, as though Death itself were standing next to him.

He shivered at the memory of the reek.

"What does she hope to do with this amulet then?" Elazar finally asked.

"_We do not know precisely. The Sentinels seem to know about as much as we do about this. The only thing they know is that the Malha will be arriving in two days' time." _The voice paused, seeming to want to say something else, but hesitant to do so.

"What else did they say?" Elazar prodded.

"_It would seem that the ones who follow the Eratites are about to make another move on them. We do not know what they will do, as the Sentinels do not know either, but… we do not think this news bodes well. Whatever they have planned, it is not meant for good."_

Elazar nodded, though he knew the woman could not see him do it. "I understand." He said. "They must be stopped. Somehow."

"_There may be one way to let the Eratites know of the danger they are in."_ the voice offered.

"What?" Elazar asked.

"_There is communications hub hidden deep within the Sentinels' Tower. That is how they receive messages from the ship that follows the Eratites. Apparently the unit is not used to _send_ them communiques, though it is capable of doing so. Since that is the only direct link to the Malha's servants, we think it would be the best way to reveal their presence to the Eratites."_

"Reveal their presence?" Elazar asked, "The Eratites have not seen them yet?"

"_Indeed not." _ The voice said, _"The ship is cloaked so that none may see it, even with the naked eye."_

"None?"

"_Not unless the ship broadcasts its position somehow… Such as with a strong communications signal, or weapons' fire."_

"I see." Elazar said thoughtfully, "I must go to the Sentinels' Tower and see this hub for myself."

"_Be careful, friend."_ The voice cautioned, _"It will not be unguarded."_

"I know, First of the Nine. Do not worry about me. I can hide well enough. But, for now, do not let Mariposa back into the Tower, at least, not until I've returned with news of my success."

"_We will do as you ask."_

* * *

"_Captain." The officer addressed his superior with a salute._

_The dark ship's captain gave the other man a condescending look, "Yes?" he said._

"_The operative is ready to board the ship, Sir."_

"_Then tell him to get on with it." The captain said dismissively. "You know we haven't much time before the ship leaves the area. It is quite preferable that we do this before they warp again."_

"_Aye, Captain." The officer saluted again and sent the order over the comm, "Board the ship."_

* * *

"Colonel, are you sure they aren't here?" Bane asked Gantz, skeptical that the man had done a thorough enough search of the area to be sure that the Eratites weren't in the vicinity.

"I'm sure." Gantz replied, confident. "They've gone."

"But how do you know that? We've only searched one area."

"The _Cobel_ lent me the use of their time-delver." Gantz replied smugly. "He has been going over the area. His search results have just come back. They are nowhere near here, and we've just picked up a faint warp-trail heading in the direction of Balan."

"Oh." Bane replied, sheepishly, "I was not aware of the time-delver's presence."

"That is because this is _my_ ship, Bane." Gantz looked over at the other man with piercing eyes. "You are here as an advisor, not a member of my crew, and as such, you do not know everything that transpires here."

Bane felt himself blanch a little in embarrassment and fear. _"What is going on?"_ he thought to himself, wondering at the Colonel's sudden strange behavior. Ever since they'd come out of warp Gantz had been oddly obsessed over finally destroying this Eratite ship. A moment later, he received his answer.

"They've finally found my daughter." Gantz said, voice low, "They've found Hilde!"

"Is she alright?" Bane asked, genuinely concerned for the girl.

"She's fine. It seems the Usurper had her hidden right under our noses the whole time. She'd been sent to the palace kitchens to work as a maid."

"I see." Bane replied, "So once we're rid of this Eratite ship…"

"We will go home." Gantz finished Bane's sentence, a look of longing in his eyes. "I received the message just as we came out of warp.

Bane nodded, "I wish you well."

Gantz didn't answer, only issued the order to his crew, "Prepare for warp. Use the coordinates given to you by the time-delver to follow the Eratites."

A chorus of "Yes, sir's" was the only reply.

* * *

"_Captain, the ship is warping. The operative is not done yet." The executive officer said to his captain._

"_Then leave him there until we've time to get him." The captain of the dark ship replied._

"_But, Captain, if something goes wrong… we may not be _able_ to get him." The officer protested._

"_I am aware." The captain said in annoyance. "Sometimes there are risks involved in revenge, my friend."_

_The officer did not protest further. The fiery hate in his captain's eyes prevented him. He knew better than to anger the other man. His captain had a reputation for taking his wrath out on his men. If one wished to stay alive aboard this ship, one did not anger the captain unnecessarily._

"_Prepare to follow the Gamilon fleet into warp." The captain commanded._

_All replied with nervous affirmation, and obeyed._

* * *

Elazar crept along the hallway, his soft white fox-paws making no sound on the metal floors. He had no doubt that, could he feel them, the plates that made up the floor would be stone-cold.

So far he had made it half-way down to where he thought the comm hub would be. He had had to phase out of visibility several times, and once had almost been seen by a Sentinel.

He had been watching the "men" – if they could be called that – as they waited for their shift-change.

The sight of them had been terrifying. In all his days here on Phantom he had not seen a Sentinel without his helmet before today. The all-encompassing head-gear hid every part of the Sentinels' faces – a fact that Elazar now appreciated much more.

The things clearly were once men; at least, he thought so. Some of them might once have been women, but it was not possible to tell now. Their faces had greyed, morphed into something so chilling that it was nearly impossible to look the things in the eye or – what was left of their eyes.

The dull black eye-orbs wandered aimlessly, as though they were blind, though Elazar knew they could see. He now realized that their sense of sight was different than his own. Perhaps they saw based on movement, or heat, or some other aspect of detection that he couldn't fathom. Whatever it was, he was not eager to find out.

The Sentinels' faces seemed incomplete. They were alive, yet, not alive.

Suddenly he understood exactly what the things were, and he nearly left the Tower right that very second.

These "Sentinels" were the possessors of bodies they'd taken. The souls once inhabiting them had left long ago, leaving mindless corpses for the dark spirits that served the Malha's Diana to take and use as they would.

Elazar felt chilled at the realization, but resisted the urge to flee and slowly continued on his journey downward, praying to Adonai all the way that the devils he was among could not sense his presence.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he found the hub.

It was just as Mariposa's information had said. There was a Sentinel troupe guarding the room, like the First of the Nine had said.

Elazar phased out of visibility and crept past the guard, holding his breath as he went and praying that he might not be discovered.

He stayed invisible as he wandered around the communications room, looking at everything he could. A few times he had to levitate his avatar so that the tiny fox could see the control panels clearly. He noted the hub's age. It had been here for many years judging by its appearance, though it had been well cared for.

Then there were the myriad control panels he saw. He had no idea what ninety percent of the controls did, so he kept looking until he found the ten percent he _did_ know how to use.

He hovered his avatar closer to the controls, studying them intently, knowing that he would have to return in his physical form in order to accomplish what must be done.

He stared and stared at the images until he could see them burned into his memory.

Once that was done, he slipped by the Sentinels once again and ran for the nearest Tower wall. As soon as he reached it, he phased through the solid surface and became visible again. He sent his white-fox-self hurtling through the trees. When he'd found a place he could safely stop and think, he let his fox form lay down under a thick bush.

Thoughts swarmed through his mind as he processed everything he'd just seen.

"_Adonai, I don't know if I can make it in without them catching me, but I have to do something now that they're planning to move on the Eratite ship again. It must be protected; this I know."_ He prayed from his place in the snow. _"Please, don't let them find me until my work is done."_

* * *

Elazar woke in his pod deep inside Phantom's core. He popped open the pod and carefully stepped out, sending the Nine a farewell as he did and warning them again not to let Mariposa venture out to the Tower until he said otherwise.

He heard a faint reassurance as he left his pod and re-sealed it.

He found and donned the thick coat he had to wear every time he went out during Phantom's winters. The bitter cold was much different from the climate of his homeworld and he wasn't used to the low temperatures.

He pulled the hood over his head and fastened it so that it wouldn't blow off in the screaming wind. He tugged gloves on over his blue hands and made sure that they too were on securely. The last thing he checked were the insulated boots he wore. The shoes had served him well these many years and he was thankful to have found them aboard his ship when he'd landed here so long ago looking for something much different than what he'd found.

He hadn't expected to walk into a war with between the Malha's forces and their nine unconscious captives. Those days had been so uncertain, before he'd found Adonai. Now that he had, he wondered how he'd ever lived without the constant presence of the greatest Friend he had ever known.

Elazar gave his boots one last good tug and stepped out of the cavern and into the passageway leading up to the outside world.

It took him some time to trek uphill through the planet's layers, but finally he reached the opening that led to the surface.

He peeked out into the blazing white winter, looking this way and that.

He pulled out the compass he always took with him on his journeys into Phantom's wilderness. After all, his avatar self wasn't affected by things like cold and wind, but his physical body was, and too much exposure to these freezing temperatures would mean an untimely death, something he couldn't afford at the moment, not with the Eratite ship's safety riding on his shoulders.

He looked down at his compass and, taking the proper heading to get to the Tower, he set off.

* * *

Hours later Elazar looked up at the towering silhouette of the Sentinel stronghold. It was just as gray as his avatar's eyes had shown him. The entire structure was encased in metal and the only way in was the front door.

He took a deep breath and ran for an outcropping of rock near the entrance.

The Sentinel guards did not see him.

"_Adonai, I don't know how to do this. Grant me an opportunity to enter unseen."_ He prayed.

He edged towards the end of the rock and peered at the guards.

They were gone.

"_What?"_ he thought, _"How?"_ he looked this way and that, trying to find the Sentinels, but he saw nothing.

With a prayer of gratitude, he sprinted towards the door and slipped inside, unseen.

Once in, he quietly crept through the halls, leaving no sign of his passing.

The way was just as he remembered it from his avatar's eyes, though everything was a bit smaller since he was much larger than a fox.

He made it to the door of the communications hub and was shocked to find that the guards that had been here mere hours ago were now gone.

"_What is going on?"_ he thought, concerned, but glad at the same time that his passage had not been noticed.

He quickly approached the door, expecting to have to break in, but instead, it opened at his beckoning.

Puzzled, he slowly stepped inside.

The door closed behind him and he quickly locked it, wanting no mishaps, should the guards return before his task was complete.

He hurried to the controls and began implementing the plan he'd conceived on his way here.

* * *

"_Captain, we've successfully followed the Gamilon fleet through their warp. Their calculations were correct. The Eratite ship is here." The officer supplied, wary of the captain's response._

"_Thank you." The captain replied, "Fetch our operative once he's completed his work."_

"_Aye, Sir." The officer replied, quickly leaving the volatile man's side._

_The ship grew deathly silent, each crewman studying his own station intently, not wanting to incur the wrath of their captain, but not wanting to miss a chance to garner his praise either._

_The only sounds on the bridge of the dark ship were the soft blips and bleeps of the duty stations as they went about their assigned tasks._

_Without any warning wild alarms shattered the fragile silence._

"_What's going on?" the captain demanded, "Have we been hit?"_

"_Negative, captain!" one of the crew shouted over the blaring alarms, "We're receiving a comm signal from the Sentinels. It's on all channels, I can't cut it off!"_

"_Get us out of here, now!" the captain bellowed in rage. "They're going to get us all killed!"_

"_What about the operative –" the executive officer started to protest._

"_Leave him!" the force of the captain's words nearly knocked the officer over. "We cannot afford to be discovered!"_

_The ship instantly disappeared, warping out of the area, alarms still blaring._

* * *

Elazar engaged the program he'd given the hub and relaxed a little as he saw the lights turn green, signaling that the task he'd given the machine was being carried out to his specifications.

He turned to leave and was a step from the door when it opened.

"And here I thought you were dead." The woman's voice chilled Elazar to the bone.

"Aurelia…" he replied, feeling the name bite into his tongue, "You weren't supposed to arrive for another two days."

The woman laughed, "Oh, I never was much for schedules."

"Indeed." Elazar bit back.

"So how is it that you've come to my servants' humble abode?" the Malha asked, feigning courtesy.

"That is a story I will not be telling you, witch." Elazar moved to push his way past her, but the Malha caught him by the throat.

He couldn't breathe. Her grip had grown much stronger over the years.

He sputtered and gasped, trying to take a breath, but he couldn't.

He felt himself losing consciousness.

"_Adonai…"_ was the all of his prayer he could muster in his darkening mind before he completely blacked out.


	35. Episode 33: The Gamilon Pilot

**Episode 33: The Gamilon Pilot**

"What happened…?" Derek groaned. His eyes cracked open, but his vision was still fuzzy and he couldn't identify the room he was in right away.

"You're in sick bay." Dr. Sane's whiny voice replied from somewhere outside Derek's line of vision.

He tried to sit up, but when he did he felt a sharp strap dig into his arms and chest. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Captain's orders, Wildstar." Dr. Sane replied, his bald head coming into view as his small beady eyes stared at the combat chief, "Can't have you attacking the prisoner again."

"What'd she do to me?" Wildstar asked, partly surprised at the woman's attack, and partly angry that he'd let her get that close to him.

"Nova said she got behind you and got a good hold around your neck. She said the pilot looked desperate to get you out of commission before you killed her." Sane replied.

Derek thought about this for a second. Would he really have killed her? Maybe. He didn't truly know now that his anger had ebbed. He remembered the look in the pilot's eyes. It was like she was trying to tell him something.

He shook the memory away. She was a Gamilon, surely she couldn't have any capacity for fear, compassion, pity – anything human, despite her physical form being like their own. Could she?

"So how long am I stuck here?" Wildstar asked.

"Until the captain lets you out." Sane replied, "Which may be soon since you've woken up. He wanted me to be sure you were alright before he gave you your punishment for assaulting a prisoner."

Wildstar took a deep breath and sighed, "I suppose I deserve that."

"I should say so." Sane agreed, "I saw the security footage. You gave her a good punch in the face. I'm surprised she didn't go down right then. I have to check her out once Sandor gets done talking with her."

"Sandor's talking with her? He can understand what she's saying?" Derek was surprised by this; he thought Sandor was only able to translate the written language. Unless… "Oh, he must be having her write down everything so he can read it."

"Don't know." Sane shrugged, "But Homer and Nova are in there with him."

"_That's odd…"_ he thought, _"Nova I can understand, but why's Homer there?"_

* * *

Shock shot through Nova when she heard Homer speak to the Gamilon woman as though she would understand him, but to her surprise, the woman _did_ indeed understand Homer and replied to him in a language that sounded similar, but oddly different from the words the comm officer had used.

"_What's going on here?"_ Nova thought, staring first at Homer, then at the woman – Melda Dietz if Nova had correctly understood the first thing that had been said.

She looked at Sandor, mouth hanging slightly open, eyes wide. The executive officer returned her gaze, giving her a sober look and mouthing, "I'll explain afterward."

Nova gave a small nod and returned her eyes to Homer and Melda.

"Are you alright?" Homer asked, pointing to the bruising beginning to appear on Melda's jaw as well as the bloody lip she'd incurred during the scuffle.

The woman's hand flew to her face and she winced when she felt the blemishes.

"Yes." She replied, "But it does not feel the best right now." She gave Homer what he thought might equate to a tiny, nervous smile.

Homer turned to Nova, "Can you look at that?" he pointed at the bruise and blood.

* * *

Nova nodded, "Sure." She stood and rifled through a first-aid station until she found what she was looking for.

She approached the pilot slowly, trying not to startle her or communicate a threat in any way.

She needn't have worried.

Melda said something to Homer, who translated to Nova, "She says, 'You don't have to be afraid, I know you will not hurt me.'"

Nova let out a little sigh of relief and smiled at Melda, closing the distance between them instantly. She slipped on gloves then reached up to Melda's face, feeling the area with gentle hands to make sure that nothing was broken before she did anything else.

Finding the woman's face free of lasting harm she cleaned the blood from her lip and applied an ointment to it, cutting away the sting she was sure the pilot was feeling from the tender cut. Then she handed the other woman a small white square and directed her to press it against her face.

The pilot asked something and Homer replied.

"What'd she say?" Nova asked.

"She asked what it was. I told her it was ice." Said Homer.

"Thank you." Nova said, nodding to Homer, then turning to leave the pilot, but when she started to go back to her chair the pilot caught her arm.

Nova looked at the woman questioningly. Melda replied with one word – one Nova didn't know, but understood to be a pleading, "Stay."

Nova acquiesced and sat down beside Melda on the bed.

Melda said something else to Homer who translated her words before replying this time.

"She wants to know where the man who attacked her is." Homer said, looking over at Sandor for a cue as to what he should tell her since they had no way of knowing if she would try to take some sort of revenge on Wildstar for attacking her.

Sandor gave his permission, "I don't think she's that dangerous. Go ahead and tell her."

Homer nodded, then said something to the pilot which he then translated, "I told her he's been restrained and isn't going to be let out until we know it's safe."

Nova hurt to think about what had happened not twenty minutes ago. Derek had flown into a rage and assaulted Melda in a very serious effort to wound, if not kill her. The memory of Wildstar's face made Nova almost cry. She had never seen him in such a rage before. It was like he wanted to take vengeance on this one woman for the millions that Gamilon had killed these past ten years since the beginning of the bombings. She understood the pain – the anger. She too had lost a father to those bombs, but she also knew that there was no possible way that this woman who sat beside her was personally responsible for any of this tragedy.

Nova suddenly said, "Homer, tell her that I'm so sorry for what happened, and that we mean her no harm."

Homer shrugged and relayed the words.

To her surprise the woman turned to Nova and patted her on the shoulder in a way that made the Eratite feel that Melda was much older than she looked. The sad smile that appeared on Melda's face nearly made Nova cry. It was as though this woman too had lost someone most dear to her in this war.

Just as Nova was about to say something else to the woman, Melda started to speak.

Homer relayed it, "I saw in your eyes that you would not harm me. You have the look of one I once saw – Astra of Iscandar, and I mistook you for her when I first saw you. That is why I stared."

At this, the woman looked a bit embarrassed to have mistaken Nova for the Iscandari princess.

"We only want to save our home." Nova said gently, "We wish _no one_ harm."

Once Homer had repeated her words the pilot looked at Nova in confusion and in a questioning voice asked something that Nova needed no translation for – "Really?"

"I am so sorry it has come to fighting one another…" Nova said softly, putting a gentle hand on Melda's near shoulder. "So very sorry…"

Melda's eyes teared up when she heard Homer's translation. The pilot never took her eyes off of Nova as she said, through Homer, "I am sorry too. I had heard much about you Eratites, but I did not know what to believe about you until now." Tears finally fell from the woman's eyes. "You are not what many of my people think. Yes, there is savagery here…" she paused, looking pointedly at the place where Derek had fallen to the floor, "But there is grace and compassion as well." She returned her gaze to Nova and smiled sadly. "I am not afraid of you anymore."

Nova laughed in relief and smiled, "I'm glad you aren't. But…" here her face fell once again, "What can we do now that you are here? What would happen to you if you went back to your ship?"

Nova looked over at Sandor for an answer. He stared back at her solemnly, thinking.

There was a long silence while they all waited for the XO to give his judgment. Even Melda looked at him, waiting.

Finally Sandor sat up, taking his eyes from the handheld he was interacting with and replied, "I must speak to the captain. In the meantime, Melda, please remain here. Miss Forrester will see to it that you have whatever you need."

Homer told Melda this and Nova nodded in agreement.

"Homer, you're needed back on the bridge before anyone gets too suspicious of this little meeting." Sandor gave the comm officer a side-long look.

Homer grew nervous at the implications of someone else finding out that he could talk with the aliens who'd ravaged the Earth. He started to shake a bit, his nerves getting the better of him for a moment, then he steeled himself and said, "You're right, Sandor. I'll get right back." Then he looked back at the two women and asked, "But how will they communicate without someone to translate?"

Sandor smiled and held up the computer he'd been fiddling with. "Nova, give me your handheld."

The Lieutenant handed her superior the computer she carried around. He took it and touched his to hers for two seconds, then handed Nova hers back.

"There." Sandor said, "Now she can write what she wants to say and it will translate for you without Homer having to be involved."

Homer looked at the XO in annoyance, "And why didn't you do that before you brought me down here?"

"I hadn't finished the program yet. I didn't know some things that this conversation cleared up for me." Sandor replied.

"Oh…" Homer replied sheepishly, then turned to go, but before he left he told Melda good-bye. The pilot did likewise, waving at him in the way someone does to a new friend whom they hope to meet again soon.

Nova looked down at her handheld and then at Melda.

Sandor left the room, leaving the two women alone. Nova wrote something on the screen and handed it to Melda.

The woman read it, "Is there anything you need?"

The pilot smiled and wrote back, "Just some water." Then handed the thing back.

Nova read it and nodded, then fetched the pilot some water.

* * *

Derek stepped into the captain's cabin, the guards on either side of him waited outside.

Then door closed behind him and Wildstar looked into the room to find the captain seated at his small desk looking very stern.

Wildstar saluted his captain, the anxiety he'd felt since leaving sick bay now welling up. Whatever the captain sentenced him to do as a result of his rash actions was well deserved he knew. He might even face demotion for this. If he did, he would understand. The captain had to keep order on board, and attacking a prisoner – or anyone for that matter – was unacceptable behavior for a crew member of any rank.

"At ease, Wildstar." Avatar said and Derek dropped his arm back to his side, but he made no move to come any closer to the captain.

Avatar let the silence stand for a moment, then finally motioned for Derek to come and sit at the opposite side of the desk. "We have a lot to talk about."

Derek swallowed hard and obeyed, sitting down across from the captain, avoiding his gaze.

"I cannot have anyone attacking anyone else aboard this ship." Avatar said, his voice firm, "I don't care who they are or what you think they've done. You are to respect their life as you would your own – even this Gamilon we now have on board. If you disregard that, you're no better than they are, Wildstar."

At this Derek nodded and looked up at Avatar, "I'll accept any punishment you have for me." He said, genuinely repentant. "Even giving up my post."

The captain shook his head, "No, Wildstar. You won't be surrendering your rank. I need you right where you are. There is no one else aboard this ship who can do the job you're doing. But what I _do_ need you to do is go back to our prisoner and give her a heart-felt apology, you will also head up a group of Tiger pilots who will be repairing her ship so that she can return to her fleet."

"But, Captain!" Wildstar protested in alarm at the suggestion that they should simply let the woman leave so easily.

"It is decided, Wildstar. I have already told Sandor and he has informed the pilot. She is most eager to return." He looked at Wildstar with strange eyes, "It would seem that our Miss Forrester has made quite an impression on our prisoner. The pilot has said that, though she will return to her fleet, she will no longer fight against us, instead, she will do what she can to spread the truth about who we are and why we're making this voyage."

"But don't they already know all that?" Derek asked.

"They do not." Avatar replied, "It seems that we are viewed as a threat to the very existence of Gamilon for reasons the pilot did not say. We have convinced her at least that the things she has been told are false."

Derek nodded slowly, "I see…" he said, thinking about what exactly this could mean for the rest of their trip, "Do you think we can really trust her?"

Avatar nodded, "I do. Sandor took me to see her a few minutes ago. I have just returned from my conversation with her." He paused, then decided to tell Wildstar another thing he had discovered, "She knows of Astra of Iscandar."

Derek's eyes widened, "How?"

"It would seem that the Iscandarians are well respected on Gamilon. Again, I do not know why." Avatar replied.

"So they don't _know_ Starsha sent us that message." Derek said, wide-eyed, "What are we walking into here, Captain?"

"I don't know." The captain replied, "But I suspect it is more complicated than we know. The only thing we can do now is send this pilot – this 'Melda Dietz' – back with a good impression, and the truth. From there, only God truly knows what will happen, but I pray that we will now have at least one ally among a host of enemies."

Derek thought on the captain's words for a while before saying, "I'll get the pilots to work on her plane." He stood, "Permission to leave, Sir?"

"Permission granted." The captain said, "And send your guards in here. I'll let them know they aren't needed anymore."

* * *

Dara felt completely alien here onboard the Eratite ship. All of them – with the exception of the man who had attacked her – were kind to her, especially the woman called "Nova" who looked so much like Astra.

She looked around the room again, just as she had a hundred times since the ship's Captain had left a few hours ago. The energy on the ship seemed charged somehow – as though a thousand tiny lightning bolts were waiting to strike at the same instant. She didn't know what it meant. Would she be detained further, or would they, as the captain had promised, release her?

She began pacing.

Nova had had to leave some time ago to return to her duty station, but she'd left Dara one of the handheld computers she had been using to communicate without the man Homer to interpret.

Just when she felt she could take the silence no longer she heard footsteps outside. They were light, probably a woman's. She smiled when Nova opened the door and came in. Dara smiled even brighter when she saw what Nova carried. Her pilot's uniform.

Nova handed the violet suit over and Dara immediately went into the small washroom and changed into the more familiar material. The scratchy Eratite garment had served its purpose, but the breathable pilot suit felt so much better against her skin than the short gown ever had.

Dara came out and handed the gown over to Nova who tossed it into a hole in the wall – probably a laundry chute of some sort.

"Thank you," Dara wrote on the handheld and passed it to Nova. The Eratite woman nodded and wrote back, "I thought you might want it. We've almost finished repairing your plane. Would you like to go down to the hangar and see it?"

"Yes!" Dara wrote so happy that her plane hadn't been scrapped during the encounter she'd had with the two Eratite pilots.

Nova nodded and motioned for Dara to follow her out the door.

Dara followed.

It felt strange to be walking through the odd ship and she received more than one stare on her way to the fighter bays.

Soon they were there and to Dara's relief she saw that her plane's maintenance had just been completed. But then she saw the one person she had hoped not to see – the man who'd attacked her.

He came towards Dara and Nova and the Gamilon scooted behind Nova, afraid of what the man might do this time, but instead of a look of rage, Dara saw something akin to regret in his face. Curious, she stepped out from behind the Eratite woman and met the man face-to-face.

Nova handed him the computer and said something to him. He nodded and took it. He spent a long time writing and rewriting something on its smooth surface. When he handed Dara the handheld she saw on it the last thing she'd expected. Two words hung there, "I'm sorry."

She looked from the words to the man, then back again several times, as though she were judging his sincerity.

Finally she lowered the handheld and gave the man a nod of thanks.

He put out his hand in a gesture she wasn't totally unfamiliar with, but had at least some idea of how she was meant to respond, so she did what her own acquaintances on Gamilon would have done.

* * *

Derek held out his hand, not knowing if the pilot would understand his intent or not, but to his surprise she gripped his forearm.

He had never shaken hands like this before, but he suspected this was her people's way of doing it, so he did the same and gripped her forearm firmly, but not too hard.

The grip lasted a few seconds, then the pilot released Wildstar and he let go as well, knowing his apology had just been accepted.

He motioned for her to hand him the computer back and he scrawled on it, "Your plane's fixed now. I wish you a safe journey back to your ship."

The woman smiled when she read it and replied, "Thank you." Then to Derek's surprise she turned to Nova and gave her a hug.

Nova looked startled, but she accepted the gesture and returned it.

The pilot started to climb into her plane but Derek stopped her, handing her something and holding up the handheld with one word on it, "Food."

The pilot nodded and took it. Then, with a salute she pulled down her flight helmet and sealed her cockpit.

A few minutes later she was gone and Derek and Nova stood staring at the place her fighter had occupied these past several hours, feeling as though they had just wished a friend good-bye, but not sure exactly why.


	36. Episode 34: Chasing the Storm

**Episode 34: Chasing the Storm**

"_We've been stuck here for _three weeks_ since that pilot left…"_ Mark thought as he stared out the front viewport at the monstrous phenomena they'd come across almost twenty-one days ago.

The thing was huge, so huge in fact that if they tried to go around it, the entire trip would have taken over a month. They hadn't anticipated running into something like this and the map Starsha had left for them in her message capsule hadn't mentioned it either.

Mark shivered at the thought. What if she'd purposefully left out some information? What if she was luring them all to their doom?

He shook the morbid thought away. How could he think things like that? After all this "Starsha of Iscandar" had already proved herself to be on their side in this conflict. She'd given them a way to save Earth – wasn't that enough to earn at least a little bit of his trust?

He looked up at the bright orange and stark black mass of stormy clouds swirling before them.

The sight was stranger than anything else they'd yet seen on this journey. It was almost like four stars had turned black and were revolving around one another in some sort of sick dance. The orange clouds seemed to be some sort of byproduct of the four black masses' revolutions.

They had yet to get a decent sensor reading from the clouds or the black spheres. Sandor had tried sending in some sort of probe, but everything he'd sent in never came back out, and the signal was so bad that they hadn't been able to receive any of the telemetry the devices were transmitting.

They were stuck.

Mark sighed and stood to go since his duty shift was now over.

His replacement nodded to him as Mark passed the other young man on his way off the bridge.

* * *

"What're they doing?" Colonel Gantz demanded of one of the crewmen.

"I – I don't know, Colonel." The man replied, "They're just sitting there, like they don't know what to do."

Gantz shook his head, "Perhaps they're not as intelligent as they first seemed." He quipped, "We made it through the storm without incident. Can they not see what's right in front of them? There's a completely open channel." Gant looked at the displayed image of the Eratite ship with derision.

"I don't think they're sensors are as good as ours." The crewman replied quietly, not wanting to agitate the Colonel more than he already was.

"I can _see_ that." The Colonel snapped, "Just do whatever we have to do to make them come through that channel. It's time we faced the Eratites. And defeated them."

* * *

Dara felt strange back aboard _Rakiah Cobel_. Her encounter with the Eratites three weeks ago had taken a lot out of her and she'd slept a whole twelve hours upon her return.

Her shipmates had understood her fatigue and let her be.

She'd nearly died of fright though when, upon her waking, she was summoned to the Captain's quarters to give a report on what had happened to her.

She'd explained as well as she dared leaving out such things as her newfound semi-friendship with them and the fact that she'd told them some things of value.

It was hard work not telling Raphan what he wanted to know. Several times she'd almost slipped and mentioned something she shouldn't. All the while she felt the eyes of the second-in-command boring into her, evaluating her every word.

She knew they were trying to find out if she was dangerous to keep aboard ship now that she'd been under the "care" of the enemy for any length of time.

Dara did her best to allay their fears telling them that the Eratites couldn't even understand her. This set the two men at ease a bit as they were assured that, had she said anything important, they wouldn't have known it anyway.

Raphan finally dismissed Dara and she hadn't been called back again to talk, so she was fairly certain that her answers had met with their approval.

She sat on her bunk again, staring at the floor, thinking about a thousand things she now wanted to know about the Eratites. Why did they look so much like her own people? What had compelled them to come this far out into space chasing the message of a woman they knew nothing about? Why did they think there was any hope in resistance against such a power as Gamilon.

She wished she'd asked more questions when she was aboard that ship – _"Argo"_ they'd called her. So far she knew that they'd come because Queen Starsha of Iscandar herself had offered to help them by giving them the Rophi Shamayim to cure their ailing world of the poison that now polluted it.

Dara's mind raced at this one thought. Did Desslok know about this? If so, had he taken measures to ensure that they didn't reach their goal? She couldn't imagine that he would ever do anything to injure the Iscandari Queen. What little interaction she'd witnessed between her brother and Starsha had been the farthest thing from militant that she could imagine, in fact, she was sure that her brother had a great deal of fondness for the woman. After all, he _had_ overthrown his own twin brother to save her world from the plague that had been unleashed on Iscandar during that Usurper's reign.

A sudden yawn cut off her thoughts and she realized how tired she was. A day of more flight drills than she could count on top of her regular duties had sapped the energy out of her.

She was just about to curl up on her bed and go to sleep when she heard a chime.

"Computer, who is it?" Dara asked.

"_Emma Meir"_ replied the ship computer.

"Come in." Dara invited.

The door hissed open and Emma stepped in, the door closing immediately behind her.

"Hey." The girl greeted cheerily. "How've you been?"

Dara sat back up in bed. "Fine." She replied casually, "Just tired from everything."

"Yeah, I can imagine." Emma replied, coming over to sit on the bed. "What was it like on that ship?"

Dara's heart started to beat a little faster, "Well…" she began, "It was… different, I guess. Not anything like our ships."

"And what about the Eratites? What were they like?" Emma probed.

Dara didn't reply for a moment, the faces of the men and women she'd met aboard that strange ship rolled through her mind in a continuous loop. Finally she said, "They were… a lot like… us."

Emma drew back, her eyes wide, "What are you talking about?"

"They looked like us, okay!" Dara exclaimed, suddenly irritated at the girl, "What's so weird about that? We didn't know what they were like before, and now we do!"

"Yeah…" Emma's shock seemed to ebb a bit, "I just didn't expect that…"

"I didn't either." Dara admitted softly, "I'm tired. Maybe we can talk later, okay." She looked away from the young woman ashamed at her outburst, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Emma reached over and patted Dara on the shoulder. "That's okay. I shouldn't have barged in this late anyway. See you tomorrow."

Emma stood to leave and was about to go out the door when Dara called after her, "Breakfast tomorrow – oh six hundred."

"You got it." Emma replied, then stepped out the door.

Dara sighed and laid back down. What was it about that girl that made her want to talk to her? Usually she didn't like the bubbly friendly type, but Emma seemed a bit more… solid somehow, like there was more to her than just the cheery exterior.

She closed her eyes and was thinking about what to tell Emma in the morning as she dozed off to sleep. Just before she lost consciousness completely the thought occurred to her that, as soon as she could, she should contact Admiral Dietz and tell him everything she'd learned while aboard the Eratite ship.

* * *

"Captain, how soon until we rendezvous with General Lysis' fleet?" Pauker asked Raphan. "The information Miss Dietz was able to give us isn't much, but perhaps it could be useful."

The Captain nodded his agreement, "On this, we agree, Pauker." Raphan summoned their flight plan from the computer and displayed it on one wall, "We should meet up with them before the day is out, then from there we go back to Gamilon with them. After that, I can't say where we'll be assigned." The Captain sighed, "I just hope that leaving Gantz and his fleet to deal with that Eratite ship was a wise move."

Pauker looked at his captain in horror, "You would question the Leader's orders?"

"No." Raphan shook his head, "But I wish he would explain himself more often. He scatters us about as though we were chess pieces to be moved to suit his whim. What is the bigger picture? What is our goal in all this? I wish I knew. If I did, perhaps it would be easier to obey him."

Pauker accepted this, "I see." He nodded, "Perhaps he will explain in time."

Raphan let out a curt laugh, "I doubt it." He smirked, "That man never did explain himself, even when we were trekking through the wilderness on the way to overthrow the Usurper he didn't explain himself. Why would he start now?"

"Y-you were there during the rebellion?" Pauker stuttered.

"I was." Raphan replied, "I was indeed. The difference between then and now though is that I knew what we we'd set out to do, and I wanted to do everything I could to help the Leader accomplish that goal. Now…" Raphan shook his head, "It is said that we must destroy the Eratites – that we must take their world as our new home… But it just seems that we do as we're told and no one knows much of anything anymore."

Pauker nodded, suddenly much more solemn than Raphan had ever seen him, "We need a change for the better, Captain. Maybe it will come soon, before too many more of us die.

* * *

"What're we still doing here?" Wildstar asked, frustrated more than he could ever remember being in his life. "Why haven't we _done_ something by now?" he kicked the nearest wall, regretting it as a sharp pain shot through his foot. "Ow!"

Nova raised an eyebrow at him from her seat at a nearby table. "Settle down before you hurt yourself." She chided, "Nobody wants to get out of here more than the Captain."

"Then why aren't we doing something?" he growled at her.

She gave him a look that said he was acting like a three-year old, "Some things take time, Derek." She replied, "Not everything can be solved in thirty seconds."

"It's been three weeks though." He continued, pacing back and forth, "You'd think we'd at least know whether or not to start going around this thing,"

"Derek, just sit down and eat." Nova said, "Mark'll be here for your chess game in twenty minutes."

"Ah, so what." Derek dismissed, "Can't concentrate enough to play that anyway."

"Okay." She said, "You still need to eat. You've been picking at your food for three days now. Even Homer noticed you haven't been eating, and he hardly ever eats with you."

"He ate with me and Mark last week." Derek defended.

"I didn't say he _never_ ate with you." Nova replied, Wildstar's mood starting to wear at her patience. "Just eat. If you don't sit down and eat right now I'm going to go sit with Peter* and the rest of the Tiger pilots."

"Okay, fine." Wildstar grudgingly went to sit down in front of his food and started picking at it with his fork.

Nov accepted the small victory and let Derek be, hoping he would actually put something in his mouth instead of just staring at it while it got stone cold.

Fifteen minutes passed like this with Nova finishing her food long before Derek even took his first bite.

"I can't do this!" Derek exclaimed, slamming his fork down on the table and drawing a number of looks form others in the mess hall, "I can't sit here and do nothing while we waste away waiting for the Gamilons to find us, or for our time to run out! I'm going out there. If there's a way through that storm, I'm finding it!"

"Derek, don't do that!" Nova started to get up; she tried to reach out to stop him, but he streaked out of the mess hall like a man on fire."

"Captain." Nova dialed Avatar's comm number. He answered right away and she continued, "Wildstar's headed for the hangar. He's going to try to find a way through the storm out there."

The Captain didn't say anything for a moment, then he replied, "Let him. Perhaps he'll find something we haven't seen before. I'll call the hangar and tell them he's coming."

"Thank you, Captain." Nova replied, not entirely sure of the wisdom in letting Derek go out in that storm in his current mood. But, then again, the Captain had ordered stranger things before and they'd all turned out for the best. Perhaps that would be the case this time too.

She sipped at the rest of her tea and prayed that the combat chief would come back from his suicide run in one piece.

* * *

Leader Desslok stood looking over the gathered crowd who now chanted the name of the man who he'd appointed commander over all his armed forces – General Dommel Lysis, his trusted ally.

The entourage bearing the General up to the level on which the Leader stood was simple: a single vehicle surrounded by a dozen armed guards. The Leader would have made the show more elaborate, but Dommel had been less than enthusiastic about a ceremony at all.

The vehicle stopped at the base of the stairs. Dommel exited the aircar and took the steps slowly, letting the gathered crowd see the man who'd been lauded as a hero for his efforts on Gamilon's behalf. He'd been the one whose face they'd seen associated with all the efforts to find the people a new home. His face was now synonymous with hope. Desslok wanted it this way – at least for now. With Dommel as the face of the push towards Erats, it was unlikely that too many would try to undermine the effort.

"Lysis" was a name well remembered from the time of Rea Atid and the Marad so many years ago. As a veteran from those awful days, Dommel had earned both respect and sympathy from the masses, making him the ideal candidate for the endeavor Desslok now wanted him to embark on.

Dommel finally made it to where Desslok stood.

He bowed before the Leader, dropping to one knee, head low as a sign of respect.

"Rise, Dommel." Desslok bid the man, "No need for that. Today I honor you for all you've done thus far to aid our people in claiming their new home."

Dommel stood and looked the younger man in the eye, then in a voice low enough not to be heard by any of the by standing councilmen and women he said, "This isn't necessary, Leader Desslok. I would have been happy to return home without such ceremony."

"I know." The Leader replied quietly, "But the people need someone they can look to in this time of uncertainty."

"They look to _you_, Sire." Dommel replied.

"Yes, but my name is not as well-known as yours, my friend. At least, not yet." Desslok said as he motioned for Celestella to approach with the medal of honor she held.

Desslok took the medal and, with finesse Dommel hadn't known the young Leader possessed, affixed the sign of approval to Lysis's uniform. Celestella stepped back to her place within the council.

Dommel was about to turn and face the cheering crowd when Desslok said, "I have another assignment for you, old friend."

"If it will help our people, then I will accept any task you have for me." Dommel replied.

Desslok nodded appreciatively, "I thank you for your willingness; I will not forget your great service to Gamilon and to our people." He took a moment to begin again, then said, "I have need of your presence at Balan. The commander of that facility has proven… less than competent and the Eratite ship will arrive there in two weeks' time. Face it and bring it to its knees. It must not stop us from conquering Erats – _nothing_ must."

Dommel absorbed the request, then with a hearty nod, accepted it. "I will do whatever I can to stop them, Leader Desslok. You have my word."

"Thank you, Dommel. I hope you enjoy the three days you have here on Gamilon before you leave for Balan."

Dommel nodded, "Yes, Leader Desslok."

With that the big man turned and faced the adoring crowd, receiving a multitude of praise for his efforts on their behalf.

* * *

Elisa watched the proceedings from her place in the council. She was overjoyed to see her husband home again. It had been too long since she'd seen him last and there was much she wanted to talk with him about.

Perhaps he would know what to do about the Leader's increasingly aggressive stance on the Eratite ship. Admiral Dietz was growing more and more concerned now that he'd heard something from his daughter Melda. Yesterday, before her ship had made it to port the girl had contacted her father and told him of a strange event. She'd been captured and held aboard the Eratite ship for almost an entire day.

Elisa had been at the Dietz residence at the time of the conversation and had heard most of it as Gul had invited her to listen.

Melda had described the Eratites as stunningly similar to the Gamilon people. Though their skin tones came closer to matching the Iscandarians', everything else about them seemed identical. Then there was the strangest thing of all. There had been a woman aboard the ship who had looked like Astra of Iscandar, but when asked, she'd said she wasn't the Iscandari princess. Though she had no doubt the woman had been telling the truth, something about the encounter chilled Elisa, but the chill was not one of fear. Instead, a strange anticipation now lingered in her heart – a desire to meet this woman – to see whatever Melda had seen that made her assume the woman to be Astra.

The ceremony came to an end, jerking Elisa back to the present.

She waited for the crowds to clear out a bit, then started off towards the place Dommel had said he would meet her.

As she went, her thoughts continued to return to the things Melda had said the day before. Everything was getting stranger and stranger by the day. The only thing she could do now was what she believed was right, and defending the Eratites was what she knew in her heart she needed to do. Hopefully Dommel would understand… Hopefully…

* * *

**Episode 34 Notes:**

*Peter - Conroy

**Author's Note:**

Don't forget to check out my profile page if you're wondering when the next update's scheduled to post.

You'll also find a list of future stories for my AU telling of the Star Blazer/Yamato universe, so feel free to stop by anytime.


	37. Episode 35: A Much-Needed Answer

**Episode 35: A Much-needed Answer**

"_Stupid storm! Stupid Gamilons! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"_ thought Derek as he guided his plane out of the hangar and into space. _"What're we doing, just sitting here? Where's the fleet we escaped from three weeks ago? Why haven't they found us again yet?"_

All these thoughts and more came rolling over Wildstar as he set out to find the way through the storm, which the science team had dubbed the "Octopus Star" since it had eight orange tails swirling around its quadruple-dark-star center.

He stared at the giant thing, seeing for the first time how huge it was in comparison with the ship. Even the _Argo _was nothing when compared to this gigantic storm. It was miles and miles across, so huge that it seemed to envelope his entire world. When he looked to the left or right, the storm was there. When he looked ahead, the storm was there. When he looked back, he could see wisps of orange cloud that had disconnected from the main storm and reformed into tiny orange beacons.

He grimaced at the phenomena and surged on, looking for something – anything – that might suggest a way through the tumult.

He flew towards the mass. It took him over half an hour to reach it. Every time he thought he was getting close to the storm he would realize that he was nowhere near it. Its size masked how far away they really were from the giant.

The closer he got, the more he felt like a speck of dust on an elephant's back.

Finally his plane reached the wall of cloud that covered the nexus connecting the four black spheres.

"_Should I go in?"_ he thought, beginning to regret his rash decision. His doubts were magnified when he felt his plane start to bob this way and that as a strong wind suddenly grabbed his Zero.

Derek held onto the control stick for all he was worth. He felt his plane shudder around him as the wind picked up and sucked him into the storm.

He thought he was about to die.

He looked around frantically for a way out of the storm, but he couldn't see anything. He stared at his instruments, but everything was gyrating crazily. All the dials and readouts seemed to have lost all sense of direction or meaning. They were useless.

Panic began to set in then. If he couldn't use his instruments to figure out which way he'd come… Then he was dead; and there was literally nothing he could do about it.

He froze, in his seat, hands glued to the stick, eyes glazed as he stared out the cockpit at the storm as it took him.

* * *

"Here." Dommel asked the driver to stop and let him out at an anonymous gate not too far outside the palace grounds. The driver obliged and stopped to let the General exit the aircar.

"Shall I wait for you, Sir?" the driver asked.

"No, please don't." Dommel replied, "Thank you."

The driver nodded and left, turning the car around to return to the palace.

Dommel sighed as the car left. It had been a relief to get out of the crowd that had mobbed the vehicle during his ride out of the capitol building. He wished he could return to simpler days, back when he and Elisa had been mere inn-keepers waiting for the next customer to come through their door.

Not that everything that had happened since that fateful day eleven years ago when he'd first met the Leader – though neither he nor his wide had known who the young man was at the time – was bad, quite the opposite in fact. Much good had come from that odd meeting.

Dommel looked up at the old archway that adorned the entrance to the cemetery and turned to enter.

He didn't remember a lot of the graves that now occupied the plots nearest the gate. So many had died thanks to the infestations of the tsarebetim all over the planet, but more and more were appearing even here underneath the surface of Gamilon. There were so many now that it was hard to travel too far from one's home without coming across at least one of the wretched things.

They stank of sulfur… and death. The sickly yellow streaks could even be seen from orbit now, and a number of them had congealed in places to create sulfur seas. Those areas had been cordoned off and the inhabitants of any towns near them had been evacuated.

At least he could do something about it now. Since the Leader had given him this new assignment he felt like he could do something worthwhile to help Gamilon, instead of just herding the troops along and ordering _them_ to confront this Eratite ship, _he_ would be the one doing it. He only hoped the Leader's faith in him hadn't been misplaced.

His footsteps fell on hard cobbled stone as he walked through the graveyard, head down, lost in his thoughts about the upcoming mission he would leave for in three days.

"Dommel!"

At the sound of Elisa's voice Dommel looked up and, despite the grim surroundings and heavy responsibilities he now bore, smiled.

"Elisa…" he went to her and wrapped her in a long-overdue hug. "You look better than when I left."

"Yes." Elisa agreed, hugging her husband fiercely, "I… feel much better than I did." She looked up at Dommel, noting the signs of concern on his face. "What is it?" she asked.

Dommel stepped back, dropping his arms to his sides. He didn't answer right away, but instead took a moment to take in the sight of his wife. She looked much like she had the last time he'd seen her. Her long blonde hair glinted in the low lamp light that lit the graveyard now that darkness had fallen. Her tender eyes were soft and warm, holding greater love for him than he knew he deserved. But now, instead of the dour gloom she'd let fall over her after their son's death, a brighter, happier look now adorned her face.

"It is nothing." Dommel replied, happy that his wife had been able to find something to be happy about. "I'm just tired."

Elisa nodded, accepting the answer. She leaned against his side, finding his hand and weaving her fingers into hers. "I wish Deror was here." She said, on a more somber note.

Dommel looked down at the small grave they now stood before. "I know." He said, "But perhaps it is good that he doesn't have to endure these troubled times."

Elisa nodded, "Yes… maybe it is."

Suddenly a loud squawk came from somewhere across the graveyard.

"Juji!" Elisa called to the bird, "Stop that!"

The sound of children's laughter floated across the dreary place, making it seem just a bit less sad.

The rockroc bird chittered at the children and hopped on top of one's head. The little girl giggled at Juji as he yodeled at the top of his bird-lungs.

"Juji." Elisa's voice grew stern and the bird turned to look at her with an innocent expression. Juji finally hopped off of the girl's head and waddled back through the gravestones to his owners. The children, visiting a grave of their own, paid a few last respects to their relative and left.

Juji saw Dommel and ran to the man, squawking excitedly. He vaulted up onto Dommel's shoulder and sat contentedly, a strange purring sound coming from his throat as he rubbing his head on Dommel's face.

"Yes, Juji. I'm happy to see you, too." He told the bird, petting the animal fondly.

"Dommel," Elisa looked around the purring bird so she could see her husband again, "Let's go home."

Dommel nodded and walked hand-in-hand with his wife all the way back to their dwelling.

* * *

Starsha sat on the stone ring circling one of the bubbling fountains outside the palace. She stared out into the gathering darkness, wondering what the Eratite ship was doing. It had been several weeks since she'd seen anything concerning the ship. Obviously they weren't in terrible danger or the engine core would have alerted her long before now. Perhaps they'd been waylaid for some reason.

She listened to the night birds and insects. Their familiar songs echoed in her mind as she thought of the last time she and Astra had come to listen to this nightly chorus. It had been over a year ago now. She only hoped that her sister was safely aboard the _Argo_ and heading home even now.

Astra's name hadn't been on the passenger list, but perhaps she simply hadn't been able to communicate her name to the Eratites when she'd arrived on Erats. After all, Starsha had had to talk with Alex and Adam through the Interface since she had no other way of knowing what they were saying. Maybe by now Astra too had found a way to talk with the crew and tell them the story of how she had come to Erats in the first place.

At least Adam was doing better now. Even since he'd woken up he'd started getting better much more quickly. He talked with her and Alex every day now and Starsha had discovered, much to her delight that the other Eratite was, like herself, a follower of Yeshua. Alex didn't seem to be very happy with that fact, but he tolerated his friend's beliefs well enough.

She liked Alex and Adam and was glad to have someone to talk with now that Astra was gone, but she was becoming concerned with Alex's behavior towards her as of late. He seemed… a bit too interested in her. She hoped he wasn't starting to have some sort of affection for her beyond their limited friendship. She had tried not to lead the man on in any fashion. Perhaps she'd done something he'd misunderstood. She hoped that wasn't the case. If it was, she didn't know what she'd do.

"Starsha?" the voice startled the young queen and she jerked her head around to see who'd called her. To her chagrin, there stood Alex at the top of the stairs, looking down at her and smiling.

"Alex." Starsha said, pausing a moment to try to think of what to say to him, then in halting English managed, "How are you?" but it came out strangely, twisted up in her thick accent.

Alex laughed good-naturedly, dismissing the poor pronunciation, "I'm fine. How are you?"

She started to reply again in very bad English, but he stopped her, knowing it was still very uncomfortable for her to speak his language at all, "Just talk normally, please. We can practice some other time."

Starsha nodded, thankful not to have to struggle through whatever conversation they might have. Then she continued, "I was just going to go in. It's getting a bit cold out here."

Alex nodded, "Alright, I'll come with you. I wanted to ask you something anyway."

A strange chill suddenly gripped the young woman's stomach and squeezed. What could he possibly want to ask her? She didn't know why she felt such dread over his announcement of a simple question, but try as she might, she couldn't shake the strange feeling.

She was glad however that she didn't have to use the Interface as much to talk with the two Eratites now. Both of them had picked up a good amount her language and she had learned much of theirs as well. None of them could speak the others' language well enough yet, but at least they understood each other decently now.

Starsha got up from her seat on the stone and started up the steps, but a few steps up she tripped on her dress. She put her hands out to catch herself, but she never landed. Instead, Alex's strong hands reached down and caught her waist, hoisting her back up to a standing position.

"Thank you." The queen said, brushing at her dress, embarrassed to have fallen on the stairs she'd been using her whole life.

Alex gave her an odd look, "You're welcome."

The two made it back inside without incident and Starsha was just about to enter the elevator that would take her up to the floor her quarters occupied when Alex reached out and caught her arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Starsha apologized, "You wanted to ask me something." She turned to look at the tall Eratite, noting now in the light of the palace what she'd missed in the twilight outside. He was sweating and looked quite nervous. "What's wrong?" she asked, thinking that perhaps something had happened to Adam while she'd been outside.

Alex took a deep breath and looked at the glass floor.

Starsha was confused. What was he doing? Then, adding to her confusion, Alex suddenly knelt in front of her. Before she could pull away he took her hand and held it.

The queen looked at him strangely. On her world, this gesture was one used when one person asked forgiveness of another for some great wrong. Surely Alex hadn't done anything so terrible as to need to ask her forgiveness for it.

The knot in her stomach grew with every second Alex didn't say anything.

Finally he said, in decent Iscandarian, "I… I love you, Starsha. And I want you to be my wife." He looked up at her with hope in his dark brown eyes.

Starsha was stunned. Had she understood him correctly? She didn't reply for a long time. Her mind swirled with so many thought and feelings. How could she answer him? What could she say to this most dreaded question? Her stomach roiled as she opened her mouth to give him the only answer she could.

* * *

Derek thought he would never see anything other than angry orange and black clouds for the rest of his short life. How could he even begin to get out of here? There was no way to escape.

He started to descend into full-on panic, but just before he fell over the edge of his sanity, he saw something that tore away his despair and replaced it with glorious hope.

A star.

He stared at the glowing point, wondering if he was just seeing things now. Had all the spinning and bouncing addled his brain? He had no doubt that was a very real possibility since he'd lost track of how long he'd been stuck inside this orange monster.

He looked and looked, and as he did suddenly another star appeared and then another and another. Suddenly he was spit out of the storm and into open space. He looked around, trying to find the ship. But he didn't see it.

Certainly he hadn't just…

He let out a whoop so loud that had his comm channel been open, whoever was listening would have been deafened.

"I did it!" he celebrated, "I got through! There _is_ a way!" He was so excited that he almost failed to see the Gamilon fleet as they started to close in on his little plane.

Suddenly the radar came back online and screeched for his attention. He cursed when he saw the enemy ships appearing on the radar. "Couldn't just let me have a minute!?" he railed at the enemy, "Just _one_ minute to be happy about this?"

He knew he was too underpowered to fight them all and he turned his plane around. Grimacing at the thought of the ride he'd just endured and feeling like his stomach might not tolerate another bout, he plunged into the storm again, heading back the way he'd come, hoping that it would take him back to the _Argo_.

What seemed an eternity later he was spit back out the other side of the Octopus Star, feeling like he would puke, but otherwise, none the worse for wear. His plane wasn't damaged either, though the sensors were terribly confused and would need recalibrating now that they'd gone through what he now thought was some sort of magnetic disturbance - twice.

"Captain!" he hailed the ship as soon as his comm system came back on line.

"What did you find, Wildstar?" Avatar asked.

"There's a way through. Right through the nexus of the four spheres, but Captain, they're waiting. The Gamilon's are already on the other side, just sitting there. Once we come through, they're going to shoot us down like we're bugs."

"Get your ship back in the hangar, Wildstar. Then report to the operations room. We'll find a way to get through without ending our journey here. I promise you that." The Captain said, then the comm channel closed.

Derek pounded the seat in frustration. They could get through, he was sure. If his Zero could make it, surely the _Argo_ could, but what then?

He guided his plane carefully back into the hangar and stowed it in its bay, telling the maintenance hands about the sensor adjustments he needed as he ran out of the hangar and up to the operations room.

* * *

"So what did Leader Desslok say to you?" Elisa asked once they were home and sitting comfortably on a couch in their living area.

"He… wants me to go back out in three days." Dommel replied.

"No…" Elisa said sadly, "So soon? You just got back and he wants you to leave again?"

"I know." Dommel kissed Elisa lightly on the forehead, "I don't want to go either, but there's something important I need to see to before I can come home more permanently."

"Oh, alright…" Elisa said, curling up next to him and letting her arm rest on his leg, then she whispered softly into his ear, "Promise me you'll come back from this…"

The General looked into his wife's eyes, seeing the concern she was trying to hide – the concern he knew she always had when he left for a military excursion of any kind. It was the same look she'd had every time he'd left the rebel encampment to take one of the Usurper's outposts two or three years ago. She was truly worried that one day he wouldn't come back.

He answered her fear just as he had many times before. He gently reached for her and pulled her close, then he kissed her lovingly, with just as much zeal as the day he'd married her.

All thoughts of what Elisa wanted to tell her husband melted away, replaced by the overwhelming presence of the man she loved.

* * *

"Colonel Gantz, it's one of the Eratite planes." The radar officer announced to his superior. "It's just come out of the storm."

"Close in. Destroy it before it has a chance to run." Gantz ordered.

The fleet quickly closed in on the small vessel, but just when they got within firing range it turned tail and jumped back into the storm.

"What in all the shamayim is the Eratite doing?" Gantz blurted, angry that they hadn't had a chance to take the plane down.

"Perhaps it went back to get the rest of them." Bane offered, trying to placate the Colonel.

He succeeded.

"Yes…" Gantz said thoughtfully, "Perhaps you're right, Bane." The Colonel replied, "Alright, all ships get away from the storm's exit channel. We'll wait for them to come through, and then, we strike."


	38. Episode 36: Whisper of the Witch

**Episode 36: Whisper of the Witch**

Miezella Celestella woke suddenly. She sat up, eyes wide open. The heavy darkness surrounding her was so thick she couldn't see much more than a few feet in front of her. Why was it so dark tonight? Usually the lights in the capitol city poured in through at least one of the windows in her and her sister's quarters, but not tonight. Tonight it was as though a black cloak had been draped over the sad city, snuffing out every light, squelching life in a way that chilled Celestella to her very soul.

"You have come…" she whispered into the darkness.

"_Yeeeesss…."_ The voice hissed, "_I have come. It is time, Celestella. Take your sister and do what must be done…"_ the voice growled, low and guttural, like a lion about to pounce on an unsuspecting deer. _"Spare none of them. And if there are any other ships near them, you must take their crews as well. There must be no witnesses to this deed. The Master wishes their deaths, but no one must know that it was you who facilitated them. We will take care of the ship once the crew is dead."_

"Yes, fellow servant. I will do as the Master wishes." A thrill ran through Celestella. She had been waiting for this ever since the night she'd had that scar emblazoned on her back – ever since the Leader had last talked with that accursed Iscandari woman.

Celestella hissed at the memory of the pain that had come over her while the star was burned into her skin. She would never forget the sight of the angry red scar on her back.

She absently rubbed the mark through her clothes, wincing at the feeling of the ugly, raised flesh.

"_The mark of the Enemy is upon you…"_ the shéd hissed, _"The Master knows of that night, and he is not pleased with the Enemy's boldness. And now He will pay for His attempts to stop us from having the anointed one…"_ the voice trailed off in the darkness.

Celestella thought the demon was gone, but just when she was about to go rouse Mirenel she heard one last whisper from the darkness, _"Beware the woman you despise, Celestella… She is not as ignorant of our efforts as she might seem…"_

Celestella shuddered, but nodded, "We will be careful." She said, "We wish the Eratites' deaths just as much as you and the Master do."

"_This we know," _the foul spirit cooed in approval, _"We thank you for your great service."_

With that the demon's presence dissipated and a few small lights began to reappear through the windows, lighting Celestella's way just enough so that she didn't trip over anything on her way to her sister's room.

She knocked on Mirenel's door, softly at first, but when the young woman didn't answer Celestella knocked harder. When there still wasn't a response she started pounding on the door.

Finally a startled "Who is it?!" echoed from inside the room.

"Your sister!" Celestella bit back, "Now get up! It's time!"

Mirenel didn't say anything, but Celestella heard rustling on the other side of the door and was content that her sister was getting ready.

Celestella went back to her own quarters and put on some clothes dark enough to help hide their passage through the palace down to the lowest levels of the great structure – down to the place where they would send Death itself to walk among the Eratites and take them one by one, by fear… in the dark…

* * *

"Captain, we're through!" Venture announced once the _Argo_ managed to break through the curious channel Wildstar had found not two hours ago. The way had been rough and dark, but in the end, they'd come through it alright. A few instruments would need recalibrating, but that was all. Thankfully.

"All hands to battle stations!" the captain ordered, knowing that within moments they would be set upon by the enemy fleet Wildstar had seen upon his arrival here.

The crew scrambled to their stations. And waited.

Nothing happened.

Surely the Gamilon fleet hadn't left the area after only two hours' wait.

Captain Avatar looked from one side of the bridge to the other. "Report." He said.

"Nothing on radar." Nova said.

"I'm not getting anything on the comm channels. No one's trying to hail us." Homer reported.

"Nothing on any of the other sensors." Sandor replied, "Captain, they're not here. Or if they are, they're so far away we can't detect them."

"Hey! What's that?" Eager suddenly shot up out of his chair and pointed excitedly at something outside the front viewport.

"I don't see anyth –" Sandor started to say, but was cut off by Wildstar's exclamation.

"Snow!" Derek said in total surprise. "How's it snowing out there?"

"Derek, there's nothing there." Nova said from her post, her stomach suddenly sinking as a strange feeling of dread overcame her.

"I see it too." Dash affirmed, pointing the same way Eager and Derek were, "It's like the snow we used to get at home.

"Are you seeing this, Venture?" Derek turned to his friend.

"Yeah…" Mark replied, utterly in shock at what he was seeing. "But how…?"

"Don't know." Derek replied, "But I'm gonna enjoy it while it's here." He stared out into space watching the white flakes rain down from somewhere out in the vast cosmos.

"Venture, Wildstar, Eager and Dashell, report to Dr. Sane immediately." Captain Avatar ordered, the firm tone in his voice suggesting he didn't like what was happening on his bridge at all. Something in the old Captain told him that this was something much more deadly than a mere onset of mass hallucination. And the same feeling of foreboding that Nova felt fell over the Captain, its dark presence threatening to overcome the entire ship.

"Aww, it's just a little snow, Captain." Wildstar dared say.

"Go. Now." The command in Avatar's voice silenced Derek who nodded and left with the other three to go to the ship's medical bay.

Once the four were gone Avatar addressed the rest of the officers, dread in his voice, "There's nothing out there." He looked at each remaining person in turn, starting with Orion, "Do you see anything?"

"Not a thing, Captain." Orion answered, just as troubled by the four's hallucination as any of them.

"What about you, Glitchman?" Avatar asked.

"Nothing's out there but space, Sir." Homer said, so nervous that he nearly dropped his headset while trying to put it back on.

"Sandor?" the Captain looked to his XO for his answer.

"No, Captain. All I see are stars. And the instruments confirm that."

"Miss Forrester?" he asked the last remaining officer.

Nova swallowed hard and was about to answer just as the rest had when the lights suddenly flickered and winked out.

"Where are the emergency lights?" The Captain asked when they didn't come on automatically.

"Don't know, Sir." Sandor said, his fingers running every which way over his work station. "The computer says they're on." He tried a few other commands then said, "Nothing's responding to my authorization codes. I can't restart any systems or stop anything that's currently running."

A sinister sound, one unlike anything any of them had ever heard, or wanted to hear again, began echoing through the ship, sending shivers through them all.

It was a song – a chilling harmony that pulled at their very beings, trying to drag them down into a river of sadness and pain and drown them in its currents of despair.

Nova couldn't help herself. She clapped her hands over her ears and cried, "Stop!"

Immediately the song ceased.

"What _was_ that?" Homer asked from the comm station.

Nova slowly removed her hands from her ears and glanced around the room, surprised that her plea had had any effect on the strange song.

Avatar's eyes narrowed, "The four of you, split up into two teams and search as much of the ship as you can. Find anyone you think is in a condition to help and bring them here. I'll maintain the ship's functions from my station for now."

"But Captain, we're shut out of everything." Sandor protested, "It isn't safe to leave one person here alone."

Avatar looked down at the science officer, "Thank you for your concern, Sandor. I do appreciate it, but now is not the time to be concerned about an old man being left by himself. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can sense something here – something very wrong. Whatever it is, it's already taken hold of the other half of you. Don't let it take you four as well."

"Yes, Captain." All four replied in unison.

The four set out in two groups, Nova and Homer, and Sandor and Orion.

They discovered that some of the doors worked and some of them didn't. The door to the main elevator leading to the bridge was sealed tight, but the emergency stairs weren't, and they all began their journey out into the dark ship, praying that the presence they all felt would not overwhelm them.

* * *

"Alex… I can't." Starsha said to the Eratite as he held her hand and looked up at her.

The instant she said it the hope in Alex's eyes shattered, replaced by what Starsha thought was anger and she feared what he might do.

She managed to tug her hand out of the man's grip and slowly back away towards the elevator.

"I'm sorry…" she started to say when suddenly a maddening screech erupted from her Interface.

Starsha immediately pulled the device out of her pocket and pulled it on, wondering what in all the universe could have caused the usually docile equipment to make such a horrendous sound.

The instant she pulled it on, she knew what was wrong.

"It's the core!" she exclaimed, Alex's anger forgotten, "The ship is in grave danger! I must help them!" she looked back at Alex who was still kneeling on the floor in shock, both at the Queen's answer, and at the strange screeching. "I'm sorry, Alex, but I must go and help your people."

With that she ran to the elevator and quickly gave the command to take her to the sublevel where she knew she could access the palace's power source should she need to send the Eratite ship more energy.

The last thing she saw before the elevator doors closed was Alex's horrified face.

She wished she could explain to him why she'd had to answer him this way, but that would have to wait until the _Argo_ was out of danger again.

The Interface continued to wail until she got to the sublevel and let the communications system open to tell her what was happening.

"_All ship systems offline."_ The system droned, _"All crew behaving erratically."_

"Were they attacked?" Starsha asked and held her breath until the answer came back.

"_Negative. No outside damage inflicted on the ship."_

"Show me the crew." Starsha ordered.

Immediately images from all over the ship flowed through the air before her. She gasped when she saw groups of men and women slumped against walls in corridors or staring listlessly out viewports. Even the medical staff seemed to have fallen prey to whatever was causing this mass stupor.

Suddenly an image of a man and a woman appeared. Neither of them appeared to be affected by whatever had taken most of the crew.

Starsha stared at them for a long moment, her eyes widening when she looked more closely at the woman. "Can you get video from this distance?"

"_Affirmative. Though the connection will be slow."_

"Please do it. Send two minutes of video of the two in this picture," she pointed to the image that she'd seen of the two conscious crew members.

"_Video transmission start."_

The still image morphed into a moving one and the man and woman picked their way through the bodies of their comrades. The woman started to speak, but Starsha couldn't hear her.

"Audio as well, please. And a translation."the queen requested.

Suddenly she could hear the woman's voice. It was so like Astra's.

"_What could have caused this…?" the woman asked._

"_Don't know." The man replied, shaking a bit, "I feel sick – " the man looked away like he was remembering something, then his face lit up and he said, "like when that gas was chasing us."_

"_Come to think of it…" the woman said thoughtfully, staring at one of the unconscious crew for a moment, "It is – it's just like it."_

_The two exchanged dread-filled, knowing glances._

"_Whatever's here, it isn't of this world, Homer." The woman's eyes narrowed and she stared down the dark corridor. "We're dealing with something much more dangerous than a plague or Gamilon weapon." She looked at her crewmate again, "This time they're on board our ship, and we're stuck in here with them."_

"_Video transmission end."_

Starsha watched as the image became still again and more pictures of the man and woman as well as images of another pair – this one two men, one old, one young – continued to stream across her view.

"Shédim…" she whispered. "So it's come to this." The queen bit her lip, the fears of all the crew of the Eratite ship flowing over her in one great wave, "I have to help them." She finally declared.

She looked at the Interface, determination in her eyes, "Send me there. Like you did before." She commanded, then, knowing what would come, she sat on the bench near the power core.

"_Engine core link loading. Estimated time to completion, five minutes."_

* * *

"Hilde…?" The Colonel whispered in surprise at the sight of his daughter. "What are you doing here, child?" he reached for her as she ran to him. "This is no place for you." He gestured around the bridge of his ship, but as he looked around, the scene changed and he was suddenly home – in his own house.

"What is this?" he asked, startled at the sight of the home he hadn't seen since the Usurper had sent him away.

"This is where you will breathe you last, dear father." The girl in his arms looked up at him with glowing red eyes.

"Y – you're not my daughter." Gantz exclaimed.

"No… indeed I am not." The spectre laughed and morphed into something more terrible than anything Gantz had ever seen.

"Shéd! Shéd!" Gantz cried, scrambling away from the sight. He tripped on something and fell flat on his back. Pain radiated through him. He tried desperately to rise from where he'd fallen, but he couldn't get a grip on anything around him.

His home melted away, replaced by a burning black abyss. He screamed as blazing heat blasted into his face, charring his lips and sending the stench of burnt hair and flesh shooting through his tortured nostrils.

"No! Please, don't kill me! I'll do whatever you want – I'll help you accomplish anything, just please – please, don't –" he coughed so hard and so long he thought he would never stop. The taste of sulfur soured his tongue and he tried to spit the taste out, but no matter what he did, he couldn't get rid of the awful taste.

"Foolish, foolish man." The demon's gurgling laugh sent Gantz into a fit of uncontrolled trembling. "You think you can bargain with the Master?"

Gantz's eyes widened. What was happening to him?

"Well, do you?!" the spirit demanded of Gantz, reaching out and clutching the man's throat in its ethereal fingers.

Gantz shook his head and tried to say "No," but the choke-hold he was caught in prevented him.

"That is good, little man, since you will be meeting the Master soon enough." The shéd's grip on Gantz's throat tightened and the spirit's blood-red eyes bored into the Colonel's soul. Then in triumph it hissed, "It is time…" and closed its grip on Gantz's neck.

* * *

Aboard the Gamilon fleet's flagship the body of Colonel Gantz wilted into a pile of lifeless flesh and bone and, had any of the crew been conscious, they would have heard the sickening snap of their Captain's neck right before he died.

* * *

Starsha blinked once, then twice, adjusting to the darkness of the Eratite ship. Her body was in a partially conscious state back on Iscandar, but through the Interface and the engine core's link she could in a sense come here for limited amounts of time.

Her link would only last a maximum of half an hour – any longer than that and she could burn out the engine core, which would be disastrous.

She looked around, noting the bodies of so many people laying the hall. Some had their eyes closed, but the more disturbing ones did not, instead they simply stared into nothingness. A few had looks of terror on their faces while others smiled or seemed to be laughing.

"What have you done here, Abaddon…?" she whispered as she stepped through the tangled masses, her translucent feet passing through the bodies.

She hurried along, looking for the man and woman she'd seen earlier, hoping to connect with them and aid them in their search for whatever it was they were looking for.

* * *

Nova froze, the hair on the back on her neck stood on end and she felt the unmistakable sense of eyes staring at her. She knew who was watching. Hell itself had come here… And she knew in her heart why it had come – to kill them all.

Knowing that dark spirits were the cause of this catatonia both simplified and complicated her and Homer's search. They had no idea what they were looking for, only that it would be clear when they found it. They'd tried contacting Sandor and Orion, and then the Captain, but their communicators wouldn't work.

"_It's almost like the ship's…. possessed…"_ Nova thought, then she realized what that meant and she repeated it out loud, "It's possessed – the ship's possessed."

"What?" Homer jumped at her sudden outburst, "H-how can that be?"

"Animals can be possessed, why not ships?" Nova asked.

Homer thought about that for a second, then nodded, "As much as I hate to say it, you might be right."

"So what's the heart of the ship?" Nova asked.

"Engine room?" Homer offered.

Nova nodded, "Let's go."

Just before they turned to head to the core of the ship something caught Nova's eye. She jerked around to look at it and saw a black shape rising up out of a pile of her ship-mates. It reached out towards her with a gnarled hand and whispered, "Mine… all mine…"

With that, something inside Nova changed and her fear turned to anger at this creature's audacity, "I am bought by the blood of the Redeemer!" she pointed back at the phantom and said with authority, "I am not now, nor will I ever be yours, Hell-spawn! By the name of Jesus, go back to the abyss from whence you came!"

The thing shrank back, throwing its hands over what were probably its ears. Then in a puff of black smoke it vanished.

Nova let out a deep sigh of relief, "Let's go, Homer," she turned to comm officer who, to her surprise wasn't shaking in terror anymore.

"Yeah, let's get these things out of our ship." He said with eyes filled with more determination than Nova had ever seen in the usually-nervous man.


	39. Episode 37: All through the Night

**Episode 37: All through the Night**

Starsha hurriedly looked into every room and hall she passed, ever-aware that time was passing much too quickly for her to do any kind of detailed search for the man and woman she was trying to find.

She didn't know exactly where they were going, only that they had been travelling down this hallway when she'd started the process of "coming" here.

She hurried along until she found a fork in the hall.

Which way should she go? She peered down both dark passageways, wondering what lay at each end of the hall. She looked around a little more and finally saw words etched into the walls that would have told her where to go had she been able to read the Eratite language.

She looked at the signs anyway and was shocked to find that she could read them.

"_Thank you, Yahweh."_ She prayed, then read both signs. The one pointing to her left read "Hangar" and the other one read "Mess Hall."

"_I don't think they would have gone to the Mess Hall." _She thought, _"After all, there shouldn't be anything there aside from more crew and whatever food they were eating when the lights went out."_

She looked down the left hall and took a deep breath before setting out.

She travelled as quickly as she dared in the dark and somewhere along the way she became aware that she was giving off some sort of glow – just like the Interface did when it was activated.

Soon she reached the hangar. The doors were closed and did not respond to her presence. She was staring at them wondering if they were still working when two pairs of gloved hands forced the doors apart and started to step out of the bay.

"Ahhh!" a light-skinned, dark haired woman dressed in a pilot's uniform let out a startled yell at the sight of Starsha standing in the corridor.

The man she was with – also in uniform – instantly drew his weapon and pointed it at her demanding, "Who are you and how did you get on board?!"

Starsha answered without thinking, "I am Starsha of Iscandar."

Both crewmen looked at her wide-eyed.

"If you're her, how is it you speak our language?" the man asked.

Starsha thought about that for a moment. How _was_ she speaking the Eratite tongue? Then it dawned on her, "I am not here in the traditional sense. I am a projection of your engine core. It has a translation matrix. Through it I am able to communicate with you in your own language." She looked from the man to the woman, "I am here to help you."

At this the man relaxed and holstered his weapon, "Like that time you came before? When that intruder was onboard?"

"Yes." Starsha replied, "That is correct."

"I'm Feria" the woman said, holding out a hand to Starsha, then thought about what she was doing, "Oh, sorry – probably can't touch anything here, right?"

"No." Starsha smiled at the woman and shook her head, "unfortunately not."

"Peter – Peter Conroy." The other pilot introduced himself, "Sorry about being so jumpy. The rest of the pilots are all out cold. Not sure why, but we both have this weird feeling – like bugs crawling up your back."

"That is understandable." Starsha replied, "The servants of Abaddon have overcome your ship."

Conroy covered his face with his hand and shook his head in dread, "I was afraid of this… After that incident before, I knew it was just a matter of time before something else came after us."

"What incident?" Starsha asked, remembering that the woman in the video she'd seen earlier had also mentioned an encounter of some sort.

"There was this gas-creature that came after us. Some of the bridge officers and the Captain felt the thing die when it was eaten by the star we were passing." Feria supplied, "One of my good friends told me about it afterwards. It was pretty terrifying from what I hear – like the Devil himself was chasing us."

"I had no idea…" Starsha said, wondering why the core had not alerted her to this situation. Perhaps she should increase the sensitivity of the thing's sensors so that it would notify her more often.

"Ah, no reason you should know, I guess," Feria replied, "It wasn't like we died or anything." Then the oriental woman stopped talking as she realized something else, "Wait – you said you were 'Starsha of Iscandar,' but you're their _queen_, right? Should we even be having this conversation with you like this?"

Starsha laughed, "It is fine, Feria. I assure you. Being spoken to normally is a good thing for those in places of authority. It is appreciated, in fact."

"Oh, alright, as long as it's okay." Feria said.

"It is fine." Starsha assured her, "But to the matter at hand – there are two more groups of you out looking for a way to restore the ship. I saw them earlier. I am trying to meet up with one of them – a woman – my sister I think – and a man named 'Homer.'"

"Your sister?" Feria asked, puzzled, "I don't know if she's on board – "

"We'll help you find them." Conroy interrupted, giving Feria a strange look as he did it. Feria shrugged her shoulders at him.

"I don't know what is still functioning on this ship and what is not." Starsha said, "It may be more difficult to find them than I first thought."

"Yeah, probably." Feria said as she pulled out her communicator and tried raise someone on it, but nothing happened. "Comms are dead." She said.

"The ship network is completely down." Conroy said, holding up his own hand-held device, trying to get it to communicate with the ship to pull up anything at all. He couldn't even get a ship diagram to load. "Good thing they made us all memorize the layout of the ship before we launched." He said ruefully. "At least we know where we are and how to get where we want to go…"

"Where should we go?" Starsha asked, "And how can I help?"

"I don't really know." Conroy answered as he thought about the question. "What's even going on here?" he looked around the hall. It was clear except for one crewman slumped onto the floor, eyes closed.

"I guess, just watch our backs." Feria said, "There's no telling what's going to happen."

"Alright. I shall 'watch your backs.'" Starsha nodded.

"Let's go this way." Conroy pointed down the hall in the opposite direction from the unconscious crewman.

Both women followed him as they started on their way. Without warning a terrible sound came from behind them.

"_Enemies! Enemies of the Master!"_ the guttural shout startled them all and they turned to see a gigantic shadow looming over the crewman on the floor and staring at the three of them with eyes that glowed like embers. _"He will not be stopped! You cannot stop him!"_

Feria and Conroy stared at the thing speechless, having never seen anything like this before. The Iscandari queen had no such handicap.

"Leave this ship! By the name of Jesus Messiah, I bid you leave now!" Starsha ordered the phantom.

"_You! Meddler!"_ it managed before melting into nothingness.

"What was that?" Conroy asked, staring in awe at the Iscandarian.

"It was what you would call a 'demon,' a foul spirit sent from Abaddon's lair. They are here in great numbers. And your ship will not be easily cleansed. It is not I who banished this one, but my Adonai who has done this thing. Do not look upon me with such wonder, my friends. I am merely a servant of a much mightier Master." Starsha said.

"We are too!" Feria exclaimed, finally understanding why she and Conroy had escaped the ship-wide coma, "And so is Homer and other woman you saw." Then she remembered, "Hey, that other group you were talking about – it's gotta be Sandor and Orion."

"Are you the only seven aboard?" Starsha asked, sure that she'd seen more who shared her faith in Yeshua in the images she'd seen of the crew.

"Seven?" Conroy asked, "You've only seen six of us."

"Your Captain." Starsha clarified, "He is one of you as well unless my sight fails me."

"Yes, he is." Conroy said, "And there are others too, but they may be trapped in their quarters or other areas of the ship."

"I see." Starsha said, "My time is limited here, my friends." Starsha said, realizing that it had been a while since she'd boarded. Checking the time index the Interface provided she realized that she had less than fifteen minutes before she would have to return to Iscandar. "We must go."

"Let's head for the engine room." Feria suggested, "I'm sure that's where Sandor and Orion will go. Maybe Homer and No – his partner – will go there too." Feria wasn't sure why Conroy was so insistent on not telling the queen Nova's name, but she supposed it was for a good reason, so she would go along with it – at least for now.

"That's a good idea." Conroy said, turning around to head down the hall that housed the unconscious crewman. "Hopefully we'll meet up with someone else on the way."

* * *

"_No life-signs aboard the Gamilon ships, Captain."_ _the officer announced, "They're all dead."_

_The captain of the dark ship nodded soberly, "What did this?" he asked, "Surely it was not some Eratite weapon. We've seen no indication that they're capable of such a thing." He said quietly, "And that Iscandari woman would never do something so gruesome as murder and entire fleet's crew and leave them to float in space for eternity." He looked at his second-in-command, "What has the scout reported?"_

"_They've all died within the past half-hour. Most have broken necks, though some appear to have died of heart-attacks or stress-related incidents that caused their systems to fail in one way or another." The man replied._

_The captain laughed sadistically, "So they died of fright."_

"_Yes." The officer replied. "So it would seem."_

"_But what were they so afraid of?" the captain wondered aloud._

"_There was something else the scout reported, Sir." The second-in-command said, "He says there is an odd smell to the ships. Like something rotted and died."_

"_Shédim!" the Captain exclaimed, "Of course…" _

_The executive officer took a step away from the captain, "Shédim, Sir? Surely not. How could that be so?"_

"_I have met two who could have orchestrated the deed." The captain said, "What is the status of the Eratite ship?"_

"_She's tumbling through space with no apparent course. It's like she's not being controlled at all."_

"_Can we get a reading on her from this distance?" the captain asked._

"_Aye, Sir. Still plenty of life-signs aboard, though their systems are non-functional – all except their engine core, which is operating past its usual energy levels." _

"_Get the scout back to the ship." Ordered the captain, "We cannot go anywhere near the Eratite vessel until she is either dead or cleansed of the foul things. If we go near her, our fate will be the same as those dead men."_

* * *

"We're here." Nova said, reaching out a hand to touch the door to the engine room. It didn't open. "Locked." She said in frustration. "There has to be another way in there."

"Maintenance tubes." Homer offered, "Heard Orion saying how hard it was getting for him to use them. Something about not being able to stop himself from slamming into the doors at the bottom of the slides."

"Okay, so how do we get into one of those?" she asked the comm officer.

"Not sure, but we probably have to be at least one floor above the engine room to slide down."

"Good point. Let's get up there and see what we can find."

Homer nodded and followed Nova as they trekked through the growing darkness. They reached one of the tube entrances and to Nova's relief it wasn't locked. She opened the door and got in.

Homer looked at the steep slide with trepidation. He couldn't see anything down the black tube.

"Hey." Nova got Homer to look at her, "Whatever's down there, we can face it." She assured him, "It doesn't matter if Satan himself is trying to destroy this ship. Wherever we go, God is there with us, and even if we can't fight whatever's onboard, He can."

Homer nodded slowly, "I just don't like enclosed spaces that much."

"Just close your eyes and pretend you're in the simulator." She offered.

"Okay…" he reluctantly agreed and waited for Nova to push off before getting in behind her and starting his rapid descent to the engine room.

The slide was short and within ten seconds the ride was over.

Homer had to react quickly not to slam into Nova at the bottom of the slide.

"_We have to redesign these things."_ He thought as he helped Nova force open the door that led out into the engine room.

As soon as it was open, he wished it was closed again.

If the tube had been dark, the engine room was infinitely darker.

"Turn your light off." Homer whispered to Nova.

They were plunged into darkness as the tiny light winked out.

Both crewmen were completely silent as they sat in the mouth of the maintenance tube staring into the blackness all around them.

Eventually their eyes adjusted a bit and they could just make out the engine off to their right. All the control panels were dead.

"What's with all the shadows?" Homer whispered pointing to one of the black masses moving along the floor some distance away.

"That's no shadow, Homer." Nova whispered back. "They're here – dozens of them."

Homer shuddered, "How're we going to get rid of them?"

"Same way we'd get rid of any of them, I'm sure." She replied softly, but we're going to need all the help we can get. You think we can get out without attracting too much attention?"

"I don't know," Homer said shakily. "I don't really want to try either."

"Come on, Homer. We have to do _something_."

"Why can't we just wait here for help?" He replied.

"Homer, you can't still be afraid of these things. You saw that one disappear earlier. If we can get rid of them that easily, there's no reason to be afraid. They can't possess us. They aren't capable." Nova patted Homer's shoulder as he sat beside her shaking. The courage she'd seen in him earlier had faded now that he'd seen the great host they now faced.

Seeing Homer's continued fear she searched for words that might reassure him. Finding them, she said, "'The LORD is my light, and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though was should rise up against me, in this will I be confident.'*"

At her words, it was as though something broke through the darkness. Instantly whatever shadows were near them scattered, creating a ring of not-so-black space on the floor directly in front of the maintenance tube exit.

"Come on." Nova gently urged Homer, "They can't even be near the words of God. They can't hurt us." With that she slipped out of the tube and into the engine room.

Homer followed slowly, dreading what might happen next.

* * *

"Door's locked. Great…" Feria said once they'd reached the engine room. "What're we going to do now?"

The two pilots and the Iscandari stood in silence wondering how they would get through this final obstacle when another voice echoed down the hall behind them.

"Shoulda gone up to the maintenance tubes." It said.

"I can try to override the lock from outside." Another voice said.

Suddenly around the corner came Orion and Sandor. The two men stopped short when they saw Conroy, Feria, and the glowing woman who stood with them.

"Hey, guys." Feria waved sheepishly, "Look who we found." She pointed a thumb back at the apparition. "Glad you got here okay."

Sandor and Orion stood speechless, staring at Starsha.

"She's some sort of projection." Conroy offered, "She's not actually here. And she's only got a few minutes until she has to go."

The XO and engineering chief slowly nodded, then Sandor said, "I am honored to meet you, Queen Starsha."

Starsha nodded, "And I you, Stephen Sandor." She said.

Sandor would've asked her a hundred questions, but Conroy had said her time here was severely limited, so he asked only one, "Can't you go through the door if you have no physical form?"

Starsha's face brightened, "I do not know. But I shall try."

With that, the Iscandari woman approached the locked door and started to push on it with her hand. The appendage passed right through the plating. With a look of awe, she melted through the door and into the engine room.

The first thing her eyes saw was the host of Abaddon turning blood-red eyes towards her. Then she saw two forms, moving slowly in the darkness and recognition dawned on her as her Interface-enhanced vision made out the faces of the man and woman she'd been looking for this whole time.

* * *

The sudden brightness stunned Nova and Homer and their eyes instantly flew to the engine room door.

"What…?" Homer asked, completely caught off guard by the sight that met his eyes. There stood a lovely young woman, long red-blonde hair swirled down well past her waist. Her long, blue dress pooled on the floor around her feet and he was surprised she could walk in it without tripping. Her skin was light, close to Nova's skin-tone, and the air around her glowed. She looked right at them.

"Sister, help me." the woman said to Nova. "It is time the forces of Abaddon felt the power of the Most High."

Nova stared back at the glowing woman, recognizing her, "Starsha…?" she said, "How are you here?"

"There is no time, Astra. We must do this quickly, before this projection fades and I must return to Iscandar."

Nova merely nodded, seeing the urgency in Starsha's face, at the same time, she felt the scarlet eyes of the shadows turning to stare at her. "Okay."

Starsha lifted up her face towards what would have been heaven had they been earth-bound and began to pray in a fashion that Nova was not familiar with, but when she heard familiar words she took up the prayer and said with the Iscandari Queen,

"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come night thee.*"

The shadows began to hide their eyes in fear and the thick darkness began to shrink away, but just when Nova thought they'd won the light that was the Iscandari queen winked out.

A voice, deep and terrible rumbled through the black night, _"What will you do now that she is gone, feeble ones?"_ it growled. _"Who will save you?"_

Nova took a deep breath and prayed that Homer would find the courage to fight by her side, then she said to the thing, "I will trust and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.*"

"_Very well…"_ the voice hissed, seeming pained, _"Let this war begin."_

* * *

**Episode 37 Notes**

*Psalm 27: 1 &amp; 3**  
***Psalm 91:5-7  
* Isaiah 12:2


	40. Episode 38: Yet to the True and Faithful

**Episode 38: Yet to the True and the Faithful**

"No! Not yet!" Starsha exclaimed, feeling so drained she could barely hold herself up on the bench back in the sublevels of the Iscandarian palace. "Please, send me back!" she pleaded with the Interface.

"_The chosen action is not currently possible. Any further strain on the engine core will burn it out." _The Interface replied.

Starsha nearly wept when she heard these words. She knew that was the case, but she'd hoped that, somehow, she might be able to try again, if only for a few minutes. She'd been pulled back at the worst time possible.

Her sister was in that engine room surrounded by Abaddon's host. Only Adonai could help her now.

She let her face drop into her hands and prayed harder than she had in a long time that all would be well with the Eratite ship, and that Abaddon would be stayed.

* * *

"Sandor, what's taking so long?" Conroy asked, anxiously.

"It takes time to get through these locks." The science officer replied, "It isn't as easy as you might think."

"Where's Starsha?" Feria asked.

"She'd probably gone by now." Conroy replied, "She only had a couple minutes left when we got here and it's been that – and longer since she went in."

"I was hoping we could tell her good-bye before she left." Feria sighed, "Not every day you get to meet a real, live queen."

"We'll see her again soon." Sandor put in, "When we get to Iscandar, I'm sure you'll have another chance to talk with her." The XO cut a few wires and re-connected them in different places before finally announcing, "That should do it."

She stood up and pulled the manual override. The door slowly inched open just enough for one of them to pass through at a time.

"What's going on in there?" Feria asked quietly as she heard a cacophony of voice clattering through the other room.

"Be prepared for anything, lass." Orion said, "You never know what you might walk into in there."

Feria nodded.

Conroy stepped up to enter first and squeezed through the opening without trouble.

Feria followed him, then Orion – though Sandor had to pull the door open just a bit more for the stout engineer to make it through. Then he too came through the door and into the giant open space.

It was darker in here than it had been out in the hall, and there were those strange red lights everywhere.

The four crewmen stopped instantly when the sea of red dots all moved – towards them.

"_What is going on in here…?"_ thought Conroy as he looked on.

Off to their right they could hear Nova saying something – but they were all too stunned to hear what it was for a moment. Then they finally realized what she was doing, and they joined her, lifting voices in a song to their God:

_"Conquering now and still to conquer, rideth a King in His might;_  
_Leading the host of all the faithful into the midst of the fight;_  
_See them with courage advancing, clad in their brilliant array,_  
_Shouting the Name of their Leader, hear them exultingly say:_

_Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race,_  
_Yet to the true and the faithful vict'ry is promised through grace._

_Conquering now and still to conquer, who is this wonderful King?_  
_Whence are the armies which He leadeth, while of His glory they sing?_  
_He is our Lord and Redeemer, Savior and Monarch divine;_  
_They are the stars that forever bright in His kingdom shall shine._

_Conquering now and still to conquer, Jesus, Thou Ruler of all,_  
_Thrones and their scepters all shall perish, crowns and their splendor shall fall,_  
_Yet shall the armies Thou leadest, faithful and true to the last,_  
_Find in Thy mansions eternal rest, when their warfare is past._

_Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race,_  
_Yet to the true and the faithful vict'ry is promised through grace."*_

The room echoed with their voice and everything seemed to brighten around them, as though they were each a candle shining in the dark, carving a path of light into the thickening night.

* * *

At Starsha's sudden disappearance Nova felt the sudden fear of being alone – having to fight this army by herself. Homer was still standing behind her, shivering. The young woman stared into the darkness and whispered, "Help me."

The apparent leader of the host before her laughed loudly at her and a multitude of awful voices skittered and clacked through the room like insects crawling towards her. She felt like she was in a den of snakes and she didn't know how long it would take for the first one to strike.

As she looked around, trying to think of what she should do, she remembered the time she'd felt like this before – when that intruder had been on board and she'd been alone in her room. That same feeling had thrown itself over her now too and instantly she knew what to do.

She shakily began to sing an old song she'd heard a few times growing up – one that seemed appropriate now.

As soon as she began, she felt her fear ebb, and then disappear, and then she heard the voices of four of her friends rise with her and her slipping courage found its footing again.

On the last verse of the song she finally heard a shaky voice, coming from behind her and a still-shivering Homer came out from his hiding place to stand with her. She looked over at him and gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

When the song abated the room was silent, save for the hissing of the shadows that stood near the groups.

Nova looked around for the four voices she'd heard join her and soon found them near the entrance of the engine room.

She couldn't see them very well, but she knew that one of the voices had been Feria's and she was glad that her old friend was here to help now. It looked like it would be up to the six of them – and God Himself – to right this ship and get her on her way again before it was too late.

* * *

There was a horrid pounding on the door to the Leader's quarters. It was so loud it roused him from a half-way descent sleep.

Feeling annoyed at the intrusion, he got up and received his uninvited visitor.

To Desslok's surprise, at his door was Krypt, one of his brother's old advisors who had remained on Desslok's council when it had been re-created after the Usurper's banishment.

"What is it, Krypt?" he asked without ceremony.

"Sir, there is a most disturbing report coming from Gantz's fleet." Krypt announced, eyes wide, face full of a terror the Leader did not understand. "They're all dead, Leader – every one of them."

At this Desslok's eyes widened, "How did this happen?" he asked, "Was it the Eratites?"

"No." Krypt shook his head, "No one knows what happened. The only reason we know anything about it is that the ship automatically generated a warning when all her crew died. It was a safety feature, so that -"

"Yes, yes, I know – so that should one ship fall prey to such a disaster that any following them would not be destroyed as well." The Leader interrupted the violet-skinned man.

"Yes, Sire." Krypt looked down, feeling stupid for assuming the Leader's ignorance, "But it was not just one ship in his fleet. The entire lot sent a warning – every single ship."

"I see…" Desslok said, face blank, not wanting Krypt to know just how disturbing this news was to him. He had been prepared to sacrifice Gantz's fleet to destroy the Eratite ship, but he hadn't expected anything like this to happen. An unknown enemy had just snuffed out over a thousand lives in his charge, and he didn't like it one bit. "You may go, Krypt."

"But, Sir, what am I to tell – "

"Tell no one anything." The Leader said, sharply, "I will inform the affected parties when the time is right. For now, we must wait. There is nothing more Gantz's fleet can lose."

Krypt nodded slowly, "Yes, Sire." Then he left the Leader's quarters in sober silence.

* * *

Once Krypt was gone and he was alone again, Desslok crossed the room and took a seat at the small table that stood next to his bed.

He looked up.

There was Iscandar, faithful as she always was. She stood in her usual place, floating just out of his reach. He glanced at the Interface lying on the table. It was dark, as usual.

On a whim, he slipped it on, hoping that he might speak with Starsha about this disturbing event, but when he put it on, the Interface did nothing.

He sighed and set the thing back down. He felt a weight settle on him as the reality of the hundreds of deaths that had just occurred – deaths he was responsible for. He hadn't been the one to killed them, but he _had_ been the one to send them there. He'd been the one who had insisted they follow that cursed ship until the end – though he'd hoped it would be the end of the Eratites, not his own men.

He suddenly pounded a fist on the table in frustration. When would this nightmare end? When would he be able to finally tell him people that they would live another day and that he had secured their new home? When would the darkness leave him finally leave him alone?

Suddenly feeling as though hundreds of eyes were boring into his soul, he looked all around the room, knowing that somewhere he would find the all-too-familiar presence of the thing that had haunted him ever since he'd sent Masterson away.

Just before he found the thing, he stopped, not wanting to see its hideous presence again. Instead he turned away, reaching out for the one other thing that mercifully gave him some relief from this living-death he now found himself mired in.

He picked up the bottle and poured an ample portion of the sharp-smelling wine. At first he sipped it slowly, then he felt the presence in the room drawing closer and he downed the rest of the drink and poured another, which he drank with just as much haste. He repeated this until he didn't care one bit about much of anything.

* * *

Nova took one courageous step towards the black phantoms that loomed before her. She thought she would be terrified, but she wasn't. As soon as she took that first step, it was like something else took over her body and she moved easily towards the dark spirits.

She was vaguely aware of the sound of other footsteps following her, but even if her friends hadn't come, in her heart, she knew she would have been alright.

"_The Meddler has deserted you."_ The deep voice rumbled.

"I don't know who you're talking about." Nova replied.

"_The one you call 'Starsha of Iscandar.'"_ Came the response.

"She has not meddled in anything; she came to help us in our time of need." Nova said to the thing.

"_Ah, but she is not merely your helper. She is your protector too."_ The voice rasped, seeming bitter about something.

"She has put herself between us and danger before, but that is because she cares what happens to us." Nova countered, "She has only done what a friend would."

The voice growled, _"She is protected by the Most High,"_ its anger was clear now, _"We cannot touch her, but that protection is not on _you_, puny servant of the Enemy."_

"We'll see." Nova countered again, "You have no power over me, foul creature." She extended an authoritative finger towards the crimson-eyed shadow, which was now forming into a repulsive, human-like shape. "In the name of Jesus, the Christ, leave this ship."

The shadow melted and in convulsing screams cursed her as it disappeared from this world and returned to the fires of its master.

Nova thought that, with their leader now gone the horde might slink away in defeat.

She was wrong.

At the defeat of their leader, the rest of the things coalesced into one gigantic mass, melding themselves together to create on enormous mountain of death. She watched as the formless mass began to take on a shape.

First the long tail oozed out of the glob, then two hind-legs, followed by a scaled back and neck. Then the front legs and talons morphed out from the darkness. The whole transformation culminated in one terrifying dragon's head.

Razor-like teeth jutted from its mouth, and though she knew the beast could not touch her, Nova also knew that it would strike as much fear into her and her companions' hearts as it could until it either debilitated them and won, or until they banished it back to its lair.

Nova finally looked around. The sight that met her bolstered her courage. To her right there stood the old engineer and the ship's executive officer. On her right, Homer, Feria and Conroy all stood tall in defiance of the thing that had taken their ship by force.

"Let's end this." Conroy said, giving Nova a look of hard determination.

"Ay, lass." Orion's voice came to her.

"Big lizards don't belong in here." Feria said in her usual, straightforward way.

"Miss Forrester, I suggest we do this together." Sandor offered.

Nova nodded, and began, her eyes boring into the demon-horde as she spoke, "By the power of the slain Lamb, Jesus Himself, we bid you go." She looked at her friends, letting them know it was time for them to join her.

All six voices lifted up the call and the great dragon that stood before them screamed as it melted away into the night, wailing its defeat as it went.

The engine room was silent now – though it was not the silence of death that had filled it mere minutes ago, instead, it was the silence of peace that filled the grand space.

A moment later, Orion's voice broke the silence.

"Well, let's get her back up and runnin'. Now that the gremlins are all outta the engine." He said before heading straight for the main control panel, Sandor right behind him.

Nova sighed in relief and smiled sending up a prayer of thanks for the shipmates she had been given and the new-found bond they all shared after such an ordeal as this one.

* * *

Starsha felt a warm hand touch her forehead and she opened her eyes.

"The ship!" She exclaimed, sitting up so fast it gave her a headache and made her vision spin.

"It's fine." Came the reply. "The Interface continued to broadcast images from the ship. Several of the crew cleared out the engine room a few minutes ago. They're fixing the ship right now. And the rest of the crew are waking up."

"Thank Yahweh." Starsha sighed, relieved that her sudden absence hadn't tipped the odds in the shédim's favor. "Alex?" She looked up at the Eratite in confusion. "What're you doing here?"

"I came to help you… if you needed it. Which, it looks like you don't…" He replied quietly, then added the last thing the Iscandari queen thought she would hear him say, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you a question like that – not now, with everything going on…" he looked away from her.

"No, Alex." Starsha tried to reassure him, "It's alright. It isn't that I don't appreciate you asking…" she paused, looking for the right words. "It's… I can't accept your proposal. My God is important to me, and He doesn't have that same importance to you."

Alex looked at her, hurt, "I don't get it." He said, "I don't understand you at all."

"I'm sorry…" the queen replied quietly, realizing for the first time something that she had suspected, but not truly known until this moment. "But that is not the only reason I cannot accept."

Alex stared at her, "What then? Certainly there can't be someone else – wait, it's Adam isn't it."

"No." Starsha very nearly laughed at this assertion. The young man was nice, but that was as far as her affection for him went. "It is not Adam who holds that place in my heart."

"Then who is it?" Alex asked, seeming to have completely forgotten the near-peril his brother's crew had just weathered.

"I – " Starsha fingered the Interface, still on her hand, "I cannot tell you that, Alex. Just know that, I refused a proposal from him as well. I have a charge to keep, and it is to remain here until Yahweh Himself moves me."

Alex looked at her strangely, "You are the oddest person I have ever known, Starsha."

The queen smiled sadly, "I am sorry to be so troubling to you. You have been of great help these past months, and I thank you for that. Adam too has been very generous with his help. When the ship departs, after they have taken the Rophi Shamayim, I believe that both of you should be aboard."

Alex nodded, "I agree."

"Now, perhaps your brother's ship will have some peace for a while." Starsha said, returning the conversation to the recent ordeal.

"I hope so." Alex agreed, "I don't ever want to see anything like what was in those images again." As shiver ran down his spine at the thought of the awful beast he had seen the crew face. The dragon's eyes were blood-red and starving, as though it would consume his soul with one glance.

"I pray you never have to." Starsha agreed. "Though Abaddon is nothing if not persistent. What lies in store for your brother's crew, I cannot tell, though I am glad my sister is there with them. At least I have _that_ consolation."

"Your sister?" Alex asked.

"Yes, Astra. She is the one who carried our message to Erats. She is the reason your people knew to come here."

"I can't wait to meet her then." Alex said, some of his anger from earlier abated.

"It will be good to have her home again." Starsha said, slowly standing up. "I must rest now. My journey has left me drained." She turned to leave.

"Starsha." Alex called after her.

She turned to look at the Eratite.

"If you change your mind about that proposal, please, let me know." Alex said, a pleading in his face.

"I'm sorry, Alex." She shook her head and slowly walked back to the elevator that would take her to her quarters. The last thing she heard was a sad silence as Alex absorbed her final rejection.

* * *

**Episode 38 References:**

* "Victory through Grace" by Fanny Crosby


	41. Episode 39: Arrival at Bemera

**Episode 39: Arrival at Bemera**

Derek strained to open his eyes, feeling like the weight of the world had fallen on him as he slept.

He tried to look around the room_. _He squinted into the darkness surrounding him. Suddenly a flood of images swept through him and a wave of panic came with it.

Where was Nova? Mark? Sandor? Everyone else? Were they alive or dead? If the nightmares he'd been thrust into while he was unconscious were to be believed, they were all dead and the ship was ripped in two, floating aimlessly through space.

His breathing came faster as he frantically looked this way and that, trying to see in the thick darkness. Was he even on board the _Argo_ anymore? Maybe he was on board a Gamilon ship travelling to their homeworld or someplace worse. His fear rose as his eyes failed him and he could see nothing.

The feeling got worse when he heard groaning off to his left. Was there someone else in here with him?

Images from his dreams suddenly rose unbidden. He saw his shipmates being dragged through the halls. Some were already dead, but others still clung to life, against the odds. He saw Mark lying in a corridor, eyes staring blankly into space, a mortal wound in his left side. Derek had tried to rouse him, but couldn't. His friend had already gone.

Derek desperately tried to banish the images as he stared into the darkness, trying to see where the noise was coming from, but, try as he might, he couldn't tell where the source was.

He thought about trying to get as far away from the sound as possible. Maybe it was a trap and he really _was _a prisoner. The feeling that he was being watched suddenly gripped him. That was another thing he remembered from the nightmare – two blood-red eyes staring into his soul. And the voice… it had rolled through him like an earthquake and taken away his courage with little more effort than a child needs to pick up a piece of paper.

The thought sent another wave of fear over him and he felt like he would go crazy. Just when he thought he couldn't bear the darkness anymore, the lights blinked on.

Relief, so powerful he couldn't stand it, washed over him and he didn't even consider holding back his tears as he saw the familiar sight of the _Argo's_ own med-bay.

* * *

Mark groaned as he tried to escape the dream. He wanted to run away from it as quickly as he could, but as far as he ran, he couldn't escape the vision. Everywhere he turned he saw Earth – war-torn and sad. Its red soil and radiation-laced ground cried out for relief from its suffering.

Then there were the people… So many of them had already fallen prey to the radiation and lay sick, or dying in hospitals, houses, or even in the streets.

As Mark ran he suddenly realized that he was close to his parents' apartment. He changed directions and ran there as fast as he could, stopping for nothing and no one.

Finally he reached his family's door.

Not even bothering to knock he forced the door open and nearly threw up when the stench of death hit him.

There, on the couch in the living room lay three bodies.

"No!" Mark screamed, falling to his knees, tears running down his face, "No! We're too late!" he cried out. "We didn't make it in time!"

The sadness that overcame him was so intense that he felt like he would die. Seeing his parents and his little brother lying dead in front of him was too much and he finally did vomit. The smell only made the foul reek of the room worse and he couldn't stand it anymore.

He lurched to his feet and managed to get out of the apartment, weeping as he went. His green and white uniform was dirty now – the dust and filth of the streets and the apartment now covered him, but he didn't care. His family was gone.

Just then he felt someone shaking his shoulder and he finally made it out of the terrible nightmare he was mired in.

* * *

Derek swiped at the tears on his face, managed to hide most of them by the time others wakened.

Most of the other crew's reactions were the same as his own – tears of relief. He started to wonder what had happened.

Then he noticed Mark still unconscious on the floor a few feet away, twitching violently in his sleep.

Derek reached over and shook his friend, relieved to see him still alive and as well as could be expected.

Mark jerked awake, eyes wild. He grabbed Wildstar's arm and with labored breath and a crazed look asked, "What just happened?"

"Don't know." Derek replied, the panic from his own terrors starting to fade. "It was like… like I was drowning in my worst fears." He admitted quietly.

"Yeah…" Mark whispered, letting go of Wildstar and sitting up very slowly, then leaning against the wall. "Me too…" He looked away, hiding some tears of his own.

Derek pretended not to notice as he carefully stood up, feeling a bit wobbly on his feet after everything he'd seen in his dreams.

Suddenly another familiar face came into view.

Doctor Sane was squinting at Wildstar through his tiny glasses.

"What happened?" Derek asked the little man.

"You expect _me_ to know?" the doctor retorted. "I just woke up." The short man looked around at his staff, taking in the distraught faces of those around him and noting that his robotic assistant, IQ-9 hadn't been spared the power-outage either, and he was still offline, sitting in a corner. Sane looked back at Wildstar and whispered just loud enough for the officer to hear him, "Those were some killer dreams, I tell you. Haven't seen anything like that since… Well, since the last war I was in… Saw some of my oldest friends' last moments again… It's enough to make a man want to polish off a second bottle of saké in one sitting."

Wildstar nodded, "Yeah… I saw some stuff …" he didn't elaborate. "And I think Mark did too." He gestured back towards his friend who was now on his feet and coming to stand beside Derek. "Guess we'd better make sure everyone's okay."

Sane sighed, "I suppose, though after this I'd better not see any of you in here until you really need something." The doctor looked sternly up at Wildstar, then at Venture. "You hear me?"

"Sure, Doc." Derek replied and Mark nodded.

"You're all cutting into my reading time." The little man said loudly enough for all the occupants of the med-bay to hear, "Get yourselves up and let me have a look at you before you get back to wherever you're supposed to be."

* * *

Captain Avatar sat alone on the dark bridge, praying that his crew would find someone – anyone else who might be able to help them. With only four crewmen there wasn't much that could be done. The ship required many more than that to run. Even a skeleton crew ran with much more than five people.

He was right in the middle of wondering when they would return when suddenly the lights on the bridge all winked back on and the controls came back to life. The swirling stars outside stabilized and the Captain breathed a sigh of relief.

They'd beaten whatever it was that had tried to kill them one more time, and he thanked God.

* * *

Several hours later everyone was back on the bridge, some looking worse than others, but all alive and well.

The Captain looked at his bridge crew one by one and wondered what adventures they'd all been through, then he turned his attention to the matter at hand.

"Venture, all ahead, full."

The Navigator nodded, "Yes, Sir. All ahead, full." Then he pushed the ship onward, knowing, just like the rest of them, that they had to battle through whatever got in their way. There was no other choice. If they didn't… then the nightmare he'd seen might really come true and they'd all return home to find their friends and families long dead.

He shivered at the thought, but didn't let it overcome him. Instead, he forced himself to look out into the vast starry host that lay before them. Somehow, the sight calmed him and he felt less like he would suffocate on the nightmare he'd returned from.

* * *

Once the ship was under way again, Captain Avatar called a meeting for all the officers in the operations room.

Everyone filed in, just like always, everyone eager to get the meeting over with and return to their stations.

Derek looked around, trying to find Nova.

There she was on the other side of the room, looking tired.

He quickly made his way over to the radar officer and stood beside her.

"Crazy dreams, huh?" he whispered to her.

"What?" Nova asked, looked at him, confused.

"You know – those dreams we all had while we were knocked out?" he replied.

"I wasn't asleep." She replied quietly.

Derek looked at her in puzzlement.

"And I didn't dream either." She continued, "Sandor, Orion, Homer, Feria, Conroy and I were all awake. We got the ship started again." Nova was about to ask Wildstar what kind of dreams he'd had when the Captain spoke.

"Eager and Miss Forrester tell me that the enemy ships that were following us aren't moving anymore – at all." Avatar announced, "Apparently they're completely out of the fight. Whatever tried to take down the _Argo_ tried the same thing with the Gamilon fleet, but it won the fight on board those other ships."

Venture and Wildstar, along with several other officers, looked at the Captain with wide eyes.

"There are no more life signs aboard those ships." The captain said, frankly. "I thank God that that didn't happen here." He looked around the room at them all, "If this is any indication of what we're to face on the rest of our journey, this will be even more difficult than any of us thought. Please, all of you, be as careful as possible in the coming months. It is clear that we face more than an enemy fleet. The powers of Hell itself are also bent on our destruction, and they are more than willing to destroy our enemies to get to us – as we've just seen."

Wildstar rolled his eyes, making sure that the captain didn't see him.

"_Why couldn't it have been some sort of enemy weapon that backfired on them?"_ Wildstar thought, _"Why does everything have to be supernatural with the Captain?"_

He turned his eyes back to Avatar who was staring right at Derek.

"I know some of you don't put any stock in the existence of anything other than this physical world, but I ask you all to think on the things you've seen and at least give it some consideration." The Captain turned his eyes to the rest of the group and continued, "Prepare for warp. We need to get as far away from here as we can." With that, he dismissed the gathering.

With numerous affirmations, they all left to prepare the ship and crew for another jump out into the unknown.

* * *

"Warp complete." Mark announced upon their emergence into normal space once again.

"No damage reports." Sandor said, glad that they'd gotten through this one unscathed. Maybe the adjustments he'd made after the last warp had made a difference.

"Reading a planet ten thousand megameters to port." Nova reported. "Size and location indicates it's the planet on Starsha's map called 'Bemera.'"

At the mentioning of Starsha's name Homer, Sandor and Orion all looked at Nova for a split second, then looked back at their duty stations, all hiding smiles at the memory of their brief meeting with the Iscandari queen not half a day ago.

Sandor brought something up on one of the screens he was staring at, then piped up, "Captain, the sensors indicate that the planet contains plant life that might be a suitable for source for us. According to the reports, several tons of perishable food was not recoverable after the ship's prolonged power outage. I recommend we send a team down to the planet to investigate."

"I agree." The captain nodded, then looked around the bridge. His gaze settled on Nova. "Miss Forrester, I believe you have the most expertise in this area. Take another crew member of your choice as well as IQ-9 and go planet-side. Bring back as many samples as you can. We'll use them to make a determination as to what might be harvestable."

"Yes, Captain." Nova accepted the charge and began to think about who she'd like to come with her.

Finally, she settled on the one she thought would be best, Daniel Rowland, one of the science team with a specialization in botany. Her own scientific background was a strong one, but Rowland's expertise would be invaluable on a mission like this one.

Just then the other duty shift arrived and all the officers gladly relinquished their posts to their replacements.

"Go get some sleep." The Captain said, before sending his chair rising up into his own quarters.

"_Fat chance."_ Wildstar thought as he left the bridge, _"Right now I never want to sleep again…"_

He looked at Mark and could tell his friend had had a similar thought. Eager still looked spooked too.

Once they were all in the elevator, Wildstar said, "So who's up for some racquetball?"

* * *

Nova slept for the next several hours, though she dreamt vividly. She'd never gotten a chance to ask Wildstar what he or any of the others had dreamed about during their sleep. She wasn't sure she really wanted to know in light of who had caused their slumber.

Then there were the deaths of the Gamilon crews. If the demonic host that had infested their ship had also overtaken the enemy, why had none of _Argo'_s crew died? Surely it wasn't simply the presence of the Iscandari queen.

She thought back to the words the foul spirit had said to her in reference to Starsha, "She is protected by the Most High. We cannot touch her."

The words echoed through her dreams and in them she saw the great dragon that she and her fellows had banished. She saw it reach out to touch the Iscandari queen, but when it came to within several feet of her, it was pierced through by a great sword, though the sword was not in Starsha's hand. Instead, the strong hand of what looked like a man gripped the hilt with a confidence Nova had never seen – even in the eyes of her friends down in the engine room. It was… otherworldly.

Then as if to further illustrate his ethereal nature, the man suddenly possessed a mighty pair of snowy wings.

Nova gasped as she looked on the sight, realization dawning on her. This was no mere man she saw. He was one of the host of Heaven – an angel. She'd never seen an angel before, and she was not at all sure that this was even an accurate picture of one, since she _was_ walking around in her own dreams, after all.

The dream broke after that, sending her into another dream, this one more normal, and until she awoke, she rested in a deep, peace-filled sleep.

* * *

Daniel Rowland waited for the Lieutenant to arrive at the survey craft. She wasn't late. He was just early. He'd been going through his list of equipment over and over, making sure he hadn't forgotten to bring anything. So far, he was certain he'd remembered everything. This would be his first time off the ship since its launch.

He was eager to see this planet – this "Bemera" – more closely. From the sensor data he'd been given, it looked like most of the planet was one solid plant-filled mass – a botanist's paradise.

He just hoped that none of the species they'd encounter were carnivorous. He cringed, thinking of one particular run-in he'd once had with a carnivorous plant during his academy days. He'd lost a perfectly good ham sandwich to the thing – three times. He'd wondered why his lunch was disappearing every time he'd leave it near that particular plant. Then, one day he'd caught the thing in the act. He'd never left his food there again.

"Oh, Rowland, good, you're already here." Lieutenant Forrester said happily as she appeared, pack in hand, ready to go. "Let's load up. As soon as IQ-9 gets here we can get going."

"Already loaded up." Rowland said, "I thought I'd go ahead and do it since I got here pretty early."

"Wonderful!" the woman exclaimed, just as IQ-9 rolled up, looking like he'd recovered well from his recent, un-planned slumber, "Let's go then. The sooner we get down there and get back, the sooner we can get to harvesting whatever we can. Our food stores need bolstering fairly badly after the power outage."

Rowland nodded, and followed the Lieutenant into the survey ship. She climbed into the co-pilot seat while Daniel got in opposite her. IQ-9 took up residence in the back seat.

Daniel was no stellar pilot, but he had more experience than Lieutenant Forrester, and IQ had refused to do it, so he was the one nominated to fly.

Rowland went through the pre-flight checklist carefully, not wanting to miss something. All the while IQ-9 droned on about some of the data he'd gotten about the atmospheric content of the planet. In any other situation, Daniel would have told the robot to can it, but he was too excited about this trip to be irritated by anything.

As soon as they were ready, they got the signal to take off.

Daniel looked out the front of the ship and nearly gave a whoop of joy as they left the confines of the ship and flew out into open space.

Once they'd cleared the _Argo_ Daniel turned the ship around and headed straight for the green world, Bemera.


	42. Episode 40: Strange Findings

**Episode 40: Strange Findings**

Daniel looked this way and that, trying to take in the magnificent landscape spread out before him. He had lowered the scout ship's altitude significantly so they could all look more closely at the sights surrounding them.

"It's like a gigantic jungle." Lieutenant Forrester said from the co-pilot's seat as she peered down at a knot of vine-laden trees.

"Yeah." Daniel replied wistfully, "Almost like home used to be." The young scientist's heart sank a bit as he remembered a time not so long ago when trees and other plants such as these grew in abundance in some of Earth's great rainforests. Maybe… someday they would return. If they got to Iscandar and then made it home in time, though he didn't see how it was possible for such extensive botanical restoration to occur. Maybe the Iscandarian scientists could explain better to him and the rest of the science team when they got to Iscandar.

Daniel turned his attention back to his piloting and was just about to zoom out of the area when he heard a startled exclamation.

"What's that?!" Lieutenant Forrester pointed at something down below them.

Daniel slowed down and circled around whatever the Lieutenant was intent on.

"IQ-9" she looked back at the robot, "Are you getting any readings from that?" she asked, indicating whatever she was looking at. Daniel still couldn't see it from where he sat.

"Negative." IQ replied, "No life signs."

"What is it made of?" she continued.

"It is comprised of a material similar to that of the princess Astra's ship." The robot droned.

"Rowland, take us down." The Lieutenant directed.

"Yes, ma'am." Daniel replied, still not knowing what she and IQ were looking at. Once he stopped circling and started trying to find a place to land, he saw it.

Down below them, in a tiny clearing, lay the remains of what looked like a ship. The pictures he'd seen of the wreck from Mars immediately jumped into his mind. What _was_ this thing? Had Iscandarians found their way out here? If so, why hadn't they just brought the Cosmo DNA machine to Earth themselves? Why did _Argo_ and her crew have to venture all the way out to Iscandar to come get it? It didn't seem to make any sense.

"Rowland?" the Lieutenant's voice startled him. "How about down there?" she pointed to a clearing that was a bit larger than the one the other ship lay in. It wasn't too far away either.

"Yeah, that looks like a good spot." He replied, mind still wrestling with all the thoughts that now cascaded over him – thoughts about Iscandar, this ship they were about to go look at, _Argo_'s mission, and a hundred other things that he had been thinking about since the day _Argo _launched.

* * *

Nova looked back in awe at the wreck they just flown over. She felt a thrill of excitement run through her. They'd come here for food, but this… this was too important not to investigate. She was glad they'd brought so much equipment with them.

"IQ, what's the atmosphere like?" she asked the robot, who seemed to be preoccupied with something down below them.

Without looking up, IQ replied, "Atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen."

"So we can safely breathe it without helmets?" Nova asked, wanting to be completely sure that if she opened her suit visor, or if the EVA equipment were damaged that they wouldn't suffer any ill effects from it. She winced, remembering Wildstar's incident with a damaged suit back on Jupiter.

"The atmosphere is breathable for humans." The robot confirmed.

Nova sighed to herself in relief, glad that, at least one factor could be checked off the "potential hazards" list.

The ship landed and all three occupants jumped out immediately, hauling everything they thought they might need for this foray. IQ proved to be quite handy, carrying the heaviest of the items they would need.

As they walked through the strange jungle Nova began to see things she'd never expected. All around her lay plants she almost recognized. There were organisms that looked almost like ferns, orchids, cocoa trees, and thousands of other plant species she hadn't been able to see or interact with before since she'd begun her scientific education well after the bombs began to fall on Earth. It was like being in a giant treasure trove.

She stepped over a beautiful flower and forced herself to keep going without stopping to study it. Maybe they could come back here when all was said and done and take a proper look at the life that teemed on this world.

The closer they got to the downed ship, the more the trees began to thin.

Finally, they cleared the edge of the jungle and came to the clearing they'd seen from the air.

Nova stopped and stared. It looked so much like Astra's ship that she had to take a moment to convince herself that this wasn't the Iscandarian woman's craft.

This one though, was covered in what looked like vines, or thick fungus of some kind. Clearly it had been here for quite some time.

Nova finally tore her eyes from the scene and stalked through the thick grass, hoping there wasn't anything resembling a snake hiding in the area, but thus far, she'd seen no signs of animal life. Then an idea came to her and stopped, setting down what she was carrying. She slowly reached for her suit helmet.

"Lieutenant, what're you doing?" Rowland looked at her in horror, seeing what she was about to do.

"Don't worry; IQ said it was breathable." Nova reassured the man, quelling the rising nervousness in her own stomach as she said it.

She unsealed the helmet and slowly pulled it up off of her head, ready to jam it back on if she discovered she needed to.

She took a breath of the strange world's air. It was tangy and a bit sweeter than she was used to – probably because of the lack of industrial activity here. Not as many pollutants to dirty the air.

She took several more shallow breaths before inhaling a deep dose of the air.

It passed into her lungs easily and caused her no discomfort. She smiled at Rowland triumphantly, "It's okay! You can take your helmet off if you want to."

Daniel nodded slowly, but kept his helmet on.

Nova started to pick her equipment back up and stopped when she heard the song of a host of insects, as their chorus rang through the clearing, just like it used to on Earth. She'd heard recordings of the sound and it thrilled her to hear something like it in real life. It just wasn't the same hearing such sounds coming from a computer.

She grabbed her equipment and quickly caught up to Daniel, eager to find out more about this place and the wreck that was now looming in front of them.

* * *

"_I wish she'd be more careful."_ Thought Daniel as the Lieutenant – now helmet-less – came to walk beside him. _"What if IQ had been wrong?"_ he shot a look at the strange red robot, _"If something happens to her, what am I supposed to do? If I have to call for help they might not get here in time."_ He kept walking, still a little annoyed at the officer's needless risk.

His unhappiness was forgotten as soon as he and Lieutenant Forrester came close enough to the ship for them both to see it clearly. Since Daniel still had his helmet on, he could see things that the Lieutenant couldn't as a result of the helmet's HUD unit.

The plants that covered the ship were indeed fungus, and it seemed to ooze over the entire body of the ship. There wasn't one bare patch he could see.

He reached out to touch the stuff with his suit-covered hand, but was stopped by the Lieutenant, who handed him a scraping tool.

"Never know if it'll melt through your suit." She said.

She was right, but Daniel nearly rolled his eyes. She'd just proven she wasn't always the most cautious person.

Daniel took the tool and scraped away a little bit of the substance.

When it didn't deform the tool or otherwise act in a threatening manner, the young man scooped the sample into a container to take back with them.

As he cleared away more of the fungus he saw that the color of the craft was a dingy, metallic gray – nothing like the brilliant gold of the Iscandarian ship he'd seen before.

As he studied the ship, he began to notice subtle differences in the two craft. This one was bigger, more bulky than the Mars wreck, and this ship seemed to be much older – almost like some group of travelers had crashed here and never made it back out to the stars.

His thoughts were interrupted by the Lieutenant's excited voice.

"Rowland!" She called to him over the com, "Come around to the far side. There's a door over here."

Daniel immediately stopped clearing away the fungus from where he was and quickly appeared next to the officer.

"Is it sealed?" he asked, feeling a strange anticipation growing inside him. What if they could get in? What would they find? Then with trepidation the question arose: Was it even safe?

The officer started to scrape away the fungus that had grown over the door seal.

Daniel helped, scraping as quickly as he could. Once he accidently jabbed the tool into the ship's hull. He winced as the tool made contact and pulled it away instantly. He studied the offended portion of the hull, but to his surprise, there wasn't a mark on the metal. What kind of material was this? Surely it was like no metal he'd ever seen.

"Shouldn't you put your helmet back on before we go in?" Daniel asked, then thought to himself, _"If we can even _get_ in…"_

"Oh! Yes, I suppose that would be a good idea." The Lieutenant retrieved her helmet from the stack of equipment and returned to the door.

Once they'd finished getting all the fungus off of the entrance the officer called IQ-9 over and the robot carefully examined the door. He laid one thick red hand on the hull, his round, yellow fingers starting to glow. Then he took his hand away and studied what appeared to be some sort of lock near the edge of the door.

With a precision that only he could have wielded, IQ-9 reached out and took hold of the lock, giving it a good twist, then pulling it clear off the door. The perfectly square hole IQ had left gave Daniel and the Lieutenant some leverage to try to tug the door open.

Lieutenant Forrester tried first, then Daniel, then they _both_ attempted to pull it open… with no success. It was stuck closed.

"IQ-9, do you think you can open it?" The Lieutenant asked the robot.

IQ gave an insulted whistle and replied, "Affirmative." Before reaching out with one hand and giving a mighty yank on the door.

It flew open and if either of the crew members had been standing near it, it would have knocked them off their feet and perhaps sent them across the clearing.

"The door is open." The robot announced, sounding a bit full of himself.

"Thanks." Daniel said as he stepped past IQ towards the door.

The inside of the ship was dark. That was all he could tell from outside the door.

"Shall we go in?" the Lieutenant asked him, suddenly standing right beside him.

Daniel nearly jumped at her sudden appearance, then replied shakily, "Maybe IQ-9 should go first."

"He won't fit through this door." Lieutenant Forrester replied, "It's just us this time." She peered into the darkness, "Trust me, this is nothing compared to what I've seen even in the last week."

Daniel didn't say anything as the memories of the ship's strange encounter with something that had sent them all into comas – all except a select few who had somehow gotten the ship back on course.

He shook the thoughts out of his troubled mind and nodded slowly.

* * *

Nova saw the look of fear cross Daniel's face at the mention of that dark day they'd so recently come through, but she knew that, whatever lay inside this wreck was nothing compared to the host of darkness she had come face to face with in that pitch black engine room.

With one deep breath, she stepped up into the strange ship.

It was dark, so she turned on her helmet-light. She looked around, trying to figure out what part of the vessel they might have found themselves in.

She stepped farther into the ship, carefully looking down to avoid anything that might still be strewn around the floor.

Every few steps she looked up and then turned to see if Daniel was behind her.

For a minute or so she didn't see him, then his head poked through the door, looking all around before stepping up into the fallen ship.

He looked like he was petrified out of his mind.

"_What's he so scared of?"_ she wondered, then turned to continue her exploration.

She found several containers – strangely made of something resembling glass or crystal, but the sides and lids were frosted over so she couldn't see what was inside them. She even tried to get a reading on the contents with her suit sensors, holding her hands over one of the boxes so that the sensors were within an inch or so of the lid.

Nothing.

Whatever was in them, it was either unidentifiable, or they were empty. Or, she supposed, that the sensors weren't capable of penetrating whatever substance this was.

She slowly moved away from the boxes and continued her search on this side of the ship. Finally, she came to another door, this one nothing like the outside door they have broken through with IQ's help. This door was much like the doors on board _Argo_, though it was shaped strangely and looked to be a bit on the clunky side, like whoever had made it hadn't had the tools to make it with much semblance of quality.

She started to touch the door, then looked behind her to see where Daniel was.

When she found him, he was standing over another box, this one on the opposite side of the ship that she'd investigated.

"What is it, Rowland?" she asked through the com.

Daniel didn't respond; he simply reached down and touched the box. Then Nova realized that this one was not sealed like the rest, though its lid was nowhere to be seen.

"Rowland, what're you doing?" she asked, just as his suited hand descended into the open box. "Wait – don't –" she started to caution, but stopped when nothing adverse happened to her partner's appendage.

A moment later, Rowland carefully lifted something out of the box.

Nova couldn't see what it was from where she stood, so she returned to the place Daniel was. "What is it?" she asked, coming to stand beside him again.

Daniel brushed off a thick layer of dust that had settled on the object.

"Another box, I think." He replied, after getting enough dust off the thing to see that it was much like the bigger box he'd just pulled it out of. "Frosted over like the rest of these." He said, absently waving a hand over the thing to see if his sensors could get a read on it. "Nothing." He sighed, then exclaimed, "Wait! What's this?" he touched what looked like a small inset control panel near the top of the box.

He nearly dropped the thing when the lid instantly melted away to reveal the contents.

"What in the world was that?" Daniel's stunned question came.

"No idea." Nova replied, "I've never seen anything like that." Then she pointed into the now-open box. "What is… that?" she asked.

Daniel slowly reached down and picked up the small object. He hefted it in his hand, noting the weight of it. It was tiny, no more than three inches long and one inch wide. It almost looked like a writing instrument of some sort, though it was clear, almost like glass, but, unlike the glass boxes, this thing was transparent – all except for a dark blue orb that sat in the center of the object.

As the two Earthers watched, the thing began to glow.

Daniel, startled, nearly flung the thing across the room, but held onto his nerve just long enough for the object to display something strange.

"A map?" Nova asked, confused. The swirling image clearly showed stars and planets and even galaxies she'd never seen before. She reached out towards the image and was startled when, just as her covered hand came in contact with part of the image, a long block of text appeared. She couldn't read it, and she was fairly certain that it wasn't the Gamilon or Iscandarian language. She'd seen bits and pieces of that courtesy of Sandor. No, this was different. It was character-based, like the other two languages, but it was organized differently. Whereas the Gamilon language was written right to left, this one was written from top to bottom – rather like Chinese, though the symbols were nothing like Mandarin or Cantonese.

"Get this into a container." Nova said, "Sandor has to see this when we get back to the ship."

Daniel didn't say anything, just nodded and pocketed the thing as quickly as he could, snuffing out the light the map had been emitting.

Nova took another look around, sweeping her light this way and that, then finally declared, "I think we're in a cargo hold of some sort."

Daniel nodded, then said in a small voice, "Can we get out of here now?"

"You really don't like this place, do you?" Nova asked.

"Not a bit." Daniel replied matter-of-factly. "Gives me the creeps…"

"Let me look at this door over here. See if I can get through it. If I can't, we'll go." She relented, wanting so badly to know what lay beyond that door and in the rest of the ship. If the cargo hold held such things as this map, what did the rest of the ship hold?

The question hung in her mind as she stepped over to the strange door and studied it, trying to see how it opened.

She reached out and touched the center of the door. It appeared to swirl open, like a reverse whirlpool, so she tried to force the metallic pieces apart. She pushed and pulled with all her strength, and finally succeeded in budging the door open an inch or so.

Nova crouched down so she could see through the opening she'd made. She peered through into another dark room.

"I can't see anything. Rowland, come help me get it open farther."

Daniel didn't respond.

"Rowland?" she turned to look back at the man and was confused when she saw the science officer's body lying unconscious on the floor. She started to go back to him, thinking that perhaps he'd passed out from fright. He had been pretty agitated after all, but she hadn't thought it was _that_ bad.

She took two steps and froze when her light hit something else standing behind where Daniel lay.

Her eyes widened and a sudden feeling of being trapped started to close in on her.

There, standing silently, were over half a dozen insect-like beings, green arms hanging at their sides. Yellow bulbous eyes stared at her and two antenna twitched on each head.

What… had they just stumbled into?

The last thing she remembered was a strange chittering sound, following by an agonizing, searing pain that raced through her body. Then the world went black.

* * *

**Merry Christmas to all my readers. May it be a blessed one for you all.**

**~dtill359**


	43. Episode 41: Awakening

**Episode 41: Awakening**

"_Elazar…"_

The sound was a faint whisper in his mind as he roused from his unconscious state.

"_Where am I?"_ he thought as he forced his eyes open just enough to look around. He tried to move his hand to his face to wipe some of the sleep from his eyes, but when he did he felt the cold bite of manacles around his wrists.

He slowly opened his eyes farther, blinking them to clear his vision.

"_Elazar…"_

The whisper came again. He looked around the room slowly. The light was dim here – not quite dark, but not much better.

He sat on a cold grey floor. To his left lay a black expanse. He didn't know if the room extended into that blackness or not, since he couldn't see into it at all. To his right lay a curious device. A crystal altar jutted up out of the floor. It looked to be no more than half his own height, had he been standing. Erupting from the clear, smooth skin of the altar were nine shining tubes, no more than a finger's width in diameter. The tubes snaked down into the floor. Where they went, he had no way of knowing, but if he had the chance to find out, he would.

Elazar continued to look, trying to find out how the First of the Nine could be speaking to him here – wherever "here" was.

His eyes made another complete circuit around the room before the voice spoke again.

"_Elazar… I am here…"_

The altar glowed faintly as the words came to him.

"What is this place?" he whispered, afraid that the Sentinels might hear him. He didn't see any of them in the room, though, come to think of it, he hadn't seen a door either. How had Aurelia gotten him into this place to begin with?

"_It is a prison."_ The First of the Nine replied faintly. _"I am only able to speak to you because you are so near the device that holds me and my eight companions captive."_

"We finally found it?!" he replied, elated at the possibility that he had unearthed a means for the Nine's release.

"_Yes…"_ the First replied, _"Though I do not think you are in any condition to do anything about it…"_ there was sadness in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Elazar asked, "Just because of these chains?"

Just then he moved to sit up straight and felt a wave of pain kick him in the chest. He looked down. He wished he hadn't.

Crusted blood covered what was left of his shirt and the movement had opened one of the wounds, causing it to bleed more. He felt another sharp pain and knew that he had a broken rib – if not two or three. Who had Aurelia given him over to?

"_The Sentinels did it."_ The First supplied. _"I could hear them. And to my dismay, see them as well. They are evil creatures, born of the darkness where Seytan*dwells. I begged Isa* to stop them, and He did. Surely you would be dead if He had not held them back. Those creatures know nothing of compassion, and one of the others heard the Malha order them to kill you. I do not know if she knows you are alive."_

Elazar groaned, though it was not an expression of despair, instead, it was a groan of pain, mingled with relief.

"Can I get out?" he asked the First of the Nine.

"_I do not know."_ She replied. _"We do not know where you are. We only know that you are near the Tower. None of us has ever been able to find this place."_

"I don't see a door in here." Elazar replied, looking around one more time, "Unless it's somewhere in that strange dark void…" he tried to point with one manacled hand, but couldn't move his fingers.

"_Look up, Elazar."_ The First directed.

For the first time, the man turned his eyes to the ceiling. It was not high – less than twelve feet above the floor. Then he saw what the woman was talking about.

"If that is a door, it is the strangest one I've ever seen." He said, studying the thing.

The "door" was no more than a four foot-wide circle cut into the ceiling. It was sealed up, of course, and Elazar didn't see any way to open it from this side. If he was to get out of here, it would have to be through that door, but he would need to wait until someone else came in here.

_Would_ anyone else come down here? If Aurelia didn't know he was alive, she wouldn't send anyone down here for him. For all she knew, he was a rotting corpse. Then a thought came to him.

"How long have I been down here?" he asked.

"_More than three weeks."_ The First replied, _"When you did not return a day or two after you left us, we all went in search of you – as well as we could, of course. We are not as free as you and Mariposa are. I… told her where you had gone and she insisted on helping us find you. She is the one who has been haunting the tower, searching for you ever since."_

"But if she's seen –"

"_We altered her appearance for this search. She no longer appears as she once did. Now, she goes in the form of a white tiger – much as you did with your fox. She will not be recognized, even if she is seen. She does not have the freedom you had, my friend, but she can manage with the resources available to her."_

Elazar sighed in relief, then asked, "Who's been keeping me alive?"

"_The Sentinels."_ The First replied, _"I do not know why they did it; they could have simply left you to starve or die of thirst here. Instead, they have been maintaining your body through some form of life-support system. Your chains are not what they appear to be…"_

Elazar looked up at the manacles that bound him to the wall. Then he saw something odd. He twisted his head, ignoring the pain in his sides, and peered up to see that, out of the top of each manacle a series of tubes jutted up from his bonds and into his hands.

"Wait – why have I awakened now? Why not two or three weeks ago? Why not during this beating?" he asked, looking down again at the wounds he'd suffered, but couldn't remember receiving.

"_I do not know…"_ the First replied, _"Perhaps they also fed you an anesthetic, which has run out."_ She paused, _"Or perhaps they intend to try to kill you again."_

Elazar stared blankly at a portion of the floor, thinking.

For a while he did not reply to the First of the Nine's assessment, then he said, with determination, "Let them come. It will be their undoing."

"_Do not be hasty, Elazar."_ She cautioned, _"It could also be that they have finally forgotten about you, or intend to sever your body from their systems, in which case, no one would come –"_

She was cut off by a sudden flash of light. Had he been looking up, Elazar would have been blinded.

The light radiated from the ceiling in a solid cylinder, reaching from the door, all the way down to the gray plated floor below.

Once the initial flash ebbed a bit and Elazar's eyes became more accustomed to normal lighting again, he looked up to see the circle that was the odd door, descending. On it stood a single Sentinel, his twisted face turned to Elazar.

The door floated down, coming to rest on the floor. The Sentinel stepped off the small platform. Instead of floating back upwards, the gray circle remained on the floor where the Sentinel had left it. The thing stepped towards Elazar and he caught just the barest hint of glinting silver as the Sentinel slipped something into a pocket.

It was too late to pretend to still be asleep, so Elazar glared at the Sentinel with all the ferocity he could muster. The thing didn't respond; it merely continued forward, its steps ringing through the odd room.

The Sentinel finally came close enough to Elazar to reach out and touch him. It extended a hand towards one of Elazar's manacles, pulling each tube slowly out of its captive's hand.

Elazar felt a stinging sensation as the tubing was removed, but the pain was nowhere near what he was feeling from his broken ribs.

Having finished one hand, the Sentinel moved on to the other one. Once all the tubing was gone, the thing reached into the same pocket it has slipped the silver item into upon its arrival. The Sentinel withdrew a strange amulet and pointed it at Elazar's face as it began to whisper over and over again the words, "Malha Guardiana."

Instantly knowing what the Sentinel intended, Elazar fought back with the only weapons available. He kicked at the thing's legs, and missed, then kicked again and felt his foot land a solid blow to the Sentinel's left shin.

Both man and Sentinel let out yells of pain as the creature fell to the floor, the amulet it held, skittering across the ground towards the crystal altar.

Elazar kicked again, trying to land another blow before his attacker could get up and have the advantage again. He landed another kick, this one to the creature's eyes. It yelped and its hands flew to its face. It rolled towards him, uttering terrible sounds, though Elazar knew that not all of them were sounds of pain. Anger resounded in those awful wails as well.

"_Adonai, help me get out of this alive."_ He prayed as the Sentinel rolled over once more, then struggled to its feet, but just as it did, it let out another roar and collapsed again.

Elazar realized that his first kick had dealt more of a powerful blow than he'd thought. The Sentinel's left leg was bent awkwardly mid-shin, and though the thing did not bleed, Elazar could see where the bone had broken and part of it now jutted out of the creature's grey skin.

The Sentinel still held one hand to its face, covering its wounded eyes. It clawed towards Elazar with the other hand, reaching out with long talons, scratching at the air, hoping to catch the man with its razor-sharp nails.

Elazar bit down hard on his tongue trying not to scream at the agony that ripped through him as he avoided the creature's grasp. His ribs cried out in pain at every movement, but it was either be in pain, or be dead, and he would rather take the pain. He couldn't die now – not when he'd just found this place they'd been searching for for so many years.

He had a perfect shot at the creature's midsection and had pulled back his leg to kick it again when he heard the voice of the First of the Nine.

"_Let it touch you…"_ she said.

Elazar, not knowing why, obeyed and waited for a moment when the thing's claws wouldn't shred him to bits.

His chance came when the thing reached out an open palm to block his kicks. It didn't know how close to him it was since its eyes were still covered.

In that moment, Elazar threw his head forward with all the strength he had left and touched his face to the thing's bare palm.

A wail unlike anything Elazar had ever heard escaped the creature and it fell to the ground, but not before reaching out once more with its other taloned hand and slashing whatever it could get ahold of.

Elazar felt the claws make contact and expected a burning pain to follow, but as the creature sank to the floor, dead, he realized that it was not him the thing had hit. Instead, one of his hands fell limply to the floor and the clang of a broken manacle echoed in his ears.

He tried to move his hand, but could only manage to budge a couple of fingers. He forced the arm to move, flexing his shoulder and upper arm, flailing the appendage around until he'd regained enough feeling in it to reach out and grab the dead Sentinel's clawed hand and use it to cut away his other manacle.

His bonds clanked to the floor and within a minute or two Elazar had the use of his other hand and arm back. He tried to stand up, but found that to be a bad idea, so he made his way on hands and knees to where the Sentinel's amulet had fallen.

It was a strange thing, though he had seen the like of it before. He slowly, cautiously picked it up. It bore the face of Aurelia graven into the front, but on the back was written something he had never seen before, since he had never actually handled one of the amulets until now. He was about to try to read it when he heard the too-familiar shrieks of Sentinels.

Had the dead one somehow alerted others? He didn't have the time to find out. He stuffed the amulet into one of his pockets. Looking first at the cylinder of light, then at the crystal altar, he struggled to his feet with great difficulty and lurched towards the altar. If there was a way to release the Nine, he had to find it, and he had to find it now.

He heard the footsteps of the terrible creatures as they came closer and closer to the opening in the ceiling.

He had just made it to the altar when the first of three Sentinels dropped into the room and rushed towards Elazar. He turned to fend off the creature and fell, his unstable legs betraying him.

As he fell, he caught hold of a lever that jutted out of the floor a mere foot from the crystal altar.

The lever moved.

Two more Sentinels jumped through the ceiling just as the whole room began to rumble and shake.

Elazar looked to the Sentinels, thinking they might know what was going on, but none of them reacted to the strange event, instead, they all had their lifeless black eyes trained on him.

All three jumped to pounce on him just as the room gave a mighty lurch and pitched to the left, towards the void on the other side of the room.

Elazar found himself hanging from the small lever for dear life as his three attackers plummeted down into the darkness.

Looking around, frantic to find something else to hang onto he saw the tubing attached to the altar. The crystal monument didn't seem to be going anywhere, so he reached out with one hand and grabbed hold of the first tube. He tugged on it, testing its strength. When he thought it would hold his weight, he let go of the lever and was about to push it back to where it was before he'd fallen on it.

Just when he let go, the tubing gave way, the end anchored in the altar shattering at its base and coming free of the crystal.

Elazar grabbed frantically at the thing, trying desperately to hold on. The tubing slipped out of his hand.

He reached out for the lever, his only other possible hope. He missed it.

Elazar felt himself free-falling through the blackness that had just enveloped the three Sentinels.

"_Adonai, help me."_ Were the last three words he thought before he disappeared into the void.

* * *

There was light – much more than she was used to.

She blinked, holding up a hand to shield her eyes until they could adjust. When she did she heard a curious hissing, then the sound of a seal being popped open.

What was going on? How was she awake?

The glass lid separating her from the outside air suddenly slid open and she took her first breath of real air since… she couldn't remember how long it had been.

She sat up and looked around the room. It was as she remembered it.

She slowly pulled herself up out of the stasis pod and stepped onto real ground. She nearly fell over as her sleep had weakened her muscles a fair amount. Thankfully the pods had been programmed to maintain their occupants' muscle mass well enough, and she was still able to stand, if shakily.

She was dizzy – understandable. She'd been asleep far too long.

What had wakened her?

"Elazar!" she exclaimed out loud, the word forming slowly on her ill-used tongue, then she thought, _"Where are you? Where does the chasm you fell into lead?"_

She searched the room quickly, reasoning that, if Elazar had pulled out her cable from the main unit that it must connect to this chamber somehow, and if it did, then the chasm the man had fallen into might lead down here to the world's core too. It was a long fall and she had to find the end of it before her friend did, or else he'd be dead.

She ran, as well as she could, through the tunnel leading out to the surface, but after several hundred feet of finding nothing, she turned around and headed back to the chamber.

This time, she scoured every inch of bare wall, looking for something – anything that might be a door to some other room that Elazar had never found during his waking hours in this place.

She found nothing.

"_Send me where I need to be."_ She prayed, knowing that only God could help her find what she sought.

Just as her mind uttered the last word, something beneath her fingers clicked and the wall dissolved before her.

The other side of the wall was pitch black, but she didn't hesitate. She stepped through the opening without another thought. Her feet found purchase on solid ground and she prayed that there weren't any holes in the floor.

She couldn't tell from here if there was a hole in the ceiling or not.

"Light." She commanded.

Illumination started to flow around her and from there it rose up to the ceiling. It rose and rose, until the woman couldn't see it anymore. This was most definitely the bottom of that void Elazar had fallen into, and judging from the distressed wails she heard coming from above her, he would be here soon. The trick would be letting the Sentinels fall to their doom without sentencing Elazar to the same fate.

Thankfully, there were things about this world that she knew better than Elazar, or the Malha, or the rest of the ones in stasis.

Suddenly the ugly faces of three Sentinels and the lifeless form of a fourth came hurtling through the air, landing with sickening crunches on the hard floor.

The woman ignored the creatures, glad that their desecrated bodies were now free of the devils that had stolen them. Then she saw the one she intended to save.

He was about fifteen seconds behind the Sentinels. He had given up yelling. His eyes were closed, as though he had accepted the death that lay at the end of his fall.

The woman waited until the right moment then commanded, "Catch him!"

Strange webbing, much like the substance that made up the door to the world's core, though more solid, jutted out from the walls and formed beneath the falling man, encompassing him and dispersing his momentum.

The webbing continued to sway up and down for several long minutes until it finally stilled, releasing a stunned Elazar into the care of the waiting woman.

She reached up to take Elazar's hand, helping him to the ground.

The man's wide eyes stared at her and he asked, "Who are you? And how did you know I would be here right now?"

The woman smiled and replied, "I am Nuray of Guardiana,* First of the Nine, follower of Isa, and defiant of the Malha and all she stands for. I am also she whom you have spoken with these past many years, Elazar. I am glad to finally meet you face to face."

Elazar's jaw dropped as he recognized the red-brown hair, pale skin and green eyes of the woman he'd seen asleep since his arrival. Before now though, he had not known her name. In the light he saw for the first time a delicate scar that rested on her forehead. The mark was shaped like a waning crescent moon.

"Come. You must rest after your ordeal." The First of the Nine – Nuray – led Elazar back through the opening in the wall, letting the light fade back down to darkness, and sealing the dead Sentinels in as she closed the wall behind them.

* * *

**Episode 41 Notes:**

*Seytan - Satan  
*Isa - Jesus  
*Nuray of Guardiana – There was another "Nuray" who lived on Earth over two millennia before; her story is told in one of the previous books, _The Guardiana._ The "Nuray" mentioned here is not the same one, though she most likely knows the story of the first one, though we'll see for sure later on in the series.


	44. Episode 42: Rumors of War

**Episode 42: Rumors of War, and Tidings of Joy**

Dommel stared out into the void before him. His new fleet had set out from Gamilon over three weeks ago. With him flew most of the ships in his former fleet as well as the _Cobel,_ the only remaining ship in Gantz's former fleet.

Hearing the news of Gantz's demise had been… unsettling at best. No one really knew what had befallen the man and his forces. All the information they had said that everyone aboard all the Colonel's ships had just dropped dead. The emergency beacon had been sent after that, alerting everyone to stay clear of the area.

He was now arriving at Balan after a few delays. The trip through the Aquarius Gate was always unsettling for him. More often than not, he saw his son, Deror in those strange corridors. The boy had suffered death at the hands of the same malady that infected his beloved home, Gamilon. During the rebellion against the Usurper, Leader Desslok's older brother, Dommel and Elisa's son had been kidnapped by a servant of the accursed Malha Guardiana. During the man's flight from the palace, both he and Deror had been exposed to the tsarebetim scarring Gamilon and creating sulfur-like seas all across the world. The exposure had been the death of them both.

It had been a day of great mourning for Elisa and Dommel, and all who had known their son.

"Landing preparations are complete, Sir." Came the announcement from one of the crew.

"Take us down." Dommel ordered.

The crew obeyed and the orange and black sphere that was Balan loomed in front of them. The planet was odd. Around its equator, great storms raged, creating a red-orange glow all the way around the world. The rest of the planet was obscured by black clouds – all threatening storms that never came to be.

To add to its volatile disposition, the world was also one of the hubs for the Aquarius Gate network. Balan boasted a gigantic, diamond-shaped group of gates right above its equator. It was through one of those gates that Lysis' fleet had just appeared.

The ships descended to Balan's orbital shipyard and docked without incident.

Dommel, Juji perched on his shoulder, and his officers disembarked and were greeted by the world's base commander, Goer Volgar.

"General Lysis, it is good to see you have arrived safely –"

"Yes, Volgar." Lysis interrupted the other man, impatient to leave the shipyard and do what he'd been sent here to do. He didn't want to draw it out any longer than necessary.

"Please, accept my congratulations on your medal – " Volgar tried again, only to be cut off once more.

"I would like to see your base of operations." Dommel said simply.

"Oh – of course, General." Volgar replied, finally dropping the pleasantries and leading Lysis to the place he needed to be.

Once the door was closed and all but Lysis's second in command had gone, he turned to Volgar and said, "I have need of this place; by order of the Leader himself."

Goer looked at the other man in puzzlement, "I do not understand, General" he replied.

"I have been ordered to take your place here as commander of this base." Lysis clarified.

Volgar's face morphed into a look of horror, "But – but I have done exactly as I have been ordered to do, General. Why now? What have I done that I should displease the Leader so much that he would replace me?"

Lysis turned his back to the other man and looked out one of the nearby windows. His gaze fell on one of the shipyards down below. Another fleet of destroyers was being assembled with great haste and many had already been completed and were being docked out in other parts of the great shipyard.

"He has found you… lacking, Volgar." Dommel replied carefully, "There is something I must accomplish, and to do it, I must have full control of this place. Your help will not be required." With that he made a dismissing motion and his second in command took hold of Volgar.

"I don't understand!" the other man whined, "Give me another chance, please! Another chance."

Dommel's executive officer dragged Volgar out of the room and into another, locking him in.

Juji watched the proceedings with not a few chirps and squawks at Volgar's whining.

"See to it that he is watched." Lysis ordered his subordinate. "I don't want him getting out and causing problems during this operation."

"Yes, General." The XO replied and went off to find a suitable guard for the now-former base commander, Goer Volgar.

"_I hope you know what you're doing, my friend."_ Lysis thought as he went over again the plan the Leader had disclosed to him just before he left for Balan three weeks ago.

* * *

In the sublevels of the palace on Gamilon, Miezella was thrown off her feet and hit the ground so hard she felt the impact reverberate through her entire body.

She almost blacked out from the pain, but held on to reality just long enough for the agony to pass.

What had just happened? The question rang through her as she picked herself up off the floor and ran back to her sister.

Terror ripped into her heart as she looked down into Mirenel's lifeless eyes.

"_Those devils!"_ she nearly screamed the exclamation of hatred for the Eratites, _"They killed her!"_ she reached down and gently closed Mirenel's blank eyes.

Tears began to roll down Miezella's grey cheeks, falling onto the table her sister had just died on. The stress of the severed connection had been too much for the younger Jirleian this time.

Miezella had known that such a day might come – a day when she and her sister might come up against such a foe as the Eratites and fail to destroy them; a day when the shédim they summoned would be thrown back into the fiery abyss, causing both women to be forcibly disconnected from the dark spirits. She knew that such disruptions were hard on Mirenel, and every time it had happened before Miezella had wondered just how much longer her sister could withstand the strain.

This dark night… she had her answer. This summoning of the shéd host had been their last.

"_Now… I am truly alone…"_ she thought as memories from long ago washed over her. She saw the deaths of countless others of her people, her parents, friends, strangers… The Bolars had seen to it that none remained alive on Jirel – none that is, except Miezella and Mirenel.

That was the day the Malha Guardiana had come to Jirel. She'd seen the sisters, mere children at the time, and taken a liking to them. She'd spared their lives, telling them that, should she tire of them, that she would kill them.

Then there was another day, not long afterwards that a woman, blue-skinned with red-gold hair, had come. She had made a bargain for her, Mirenel, and another girl's freedom. The bargain had costed the woman her life.

Miezella Celestella had no idea who that woman had been, but she'd been thankful for her intervention that day, and though she and her sister had one day, years later, returned to the Malha and become her servants, Celestella knew that she owed her life to that red-haired woman. If she had the chance to repay that debt one day, she would.

Celestella sank to the floor and wept.

Long into the night, she rose from her mourning and picked up her sister's body, carrying it back to their quarters as clandestinely as she could.

Hours later, when the sun rose, Celestella pretended to find Mirenel's lifeless form, lying on her bed in her portion of the sisters' quarters.

She called security and was rewarded by the prompt appearance of several personnel who examined the room and the body thoroughly.

After a while, the men and women told Miezella what she already knew. Her sister had died from a massive heart-attack.

Celestella nodded at all the right times, and cried when she should have. It was a solid performance and she was glad when it was over and Mirenel's body had been taken to the mortician.

Celestella spent the rest of the morning thinking about the Eratites and how she could possibly stop them now that her sister was gone, and her shéd-wielding powers had been blunted beyond proper use.

"_What can I do now, Malha…?"_ Celestella thought, sitting down on her bed and absently turning on the planetary news.

" – rebel factions?" The news announcer finished his sentence, then turned to something else, "In other news –"

The two words she'd caught triggered something in Celestella's mind, "Back up the broadcast by three minutes." She ordered the computer.

She was rewarded when the announcer's voice picked up at the tail-end of the weather report and started into the story she'd caught the last little bit of.

"We've received reports of several unhappy citizens raiding smaller military installations on the other side of the planet. Reports say that the insurgents have expressed discontent with the Leader's plans to take the planet 'Erats' to provide a new home for the Gamilon people. We have received reports of several outbreaks of similar sentiments here in Belarus and there are rumors of an impending strike here in the capitol. What does the future hold for us here with the outbreak of these rebel factions?"

Celestella turned the broadcast off as the announcer's words rang in her ears. How could there be such a group here on Gamilon? Who would be foolish enough to go against the Leader and his plans for the world and its people?

Celestella let the question roll around in her mind.

Perhaps there _was_ another way for her to help the situation, even without her sister to aid her…

With that, she stood up and left her quarters.

* * *

"I am aware of the insurgents, Celestella." Leader Desslok dismissed, not even turning to look at the woman after she'd announced her intentions to quell the rebellious murmurings among the people. "They are no threat to me, or to our efforts to secure Erats for my people."

"But, Sire, I would see to it that they will never _become_ a threat. I know they are nothing to you now, but perhaps, with the right leadership, they _could_ be." Celestella replied.

"I appreciate your zeal." The Leader replied, "And in light of the tragic death of your sister, I admire your dedication to your work here." He paused, finally turning to look at her.

It was then that she noted the haunted look that still pervaded his eyes and a small smile threatened to show itself, but she quickly hid it. At least she knew that her Master's plans hadn't been derailed by the Eratite's small victory. Mirenel's sacrifice had not been for naught. The Leader was still theirs, even though they had been forbidden to interfere with his communiques with the Iscandari woman.

"I will allow you to see to the rebels however you see fit." Desslok allowed, "Provided… you do not cause too much of a stir among the general populace. The insurgents must be seen as a threat to our well-being. Do not make them into martyrs."

"I promise you, Sire. I will get rid of them subtly." She bowed to the Leader. "I shall begin the search for them as soon as I can gather the needed manpower."

The Leader nodded, "Very well." Then he turned away from her again to look out on Belarus, and, inevitably, upward towards Iscandar.

Knowing she was dismissed, Celestella left to prepare for the coming purge. She would eradicate this rebel faction wherever she found it. There would be no one on Gamilon who would sympathize with those murderous Eratites when she was through.

She smirked to herself at the thought of killing these rebels. Who were they to stand against her Master's wishes?

"_Mere insects."_ She thought, _"They too will die in sad silence once I find them."_ She started to walk back to her quarters, then thought better of it and instead directed her feet towards one of the many places she knew her colleagues would be – one of the common areas near the center of the palace where they could get descent drinks and hold some semblance of intelligent conversation.

* * *

Elisa sat in her living room, wishing that Juji had stayed behind with her instead of going with Dommel this time, but the bird had refused to leave her husband when the time came for him to go. She'd grudgingly allowed the animal to leave, hoping that both he and Dommel would come back in one piece from this mission.

She had no idea what Dommel had been sent out to do. She'd asked, but her husband had told her that he couldn't say anything about it, just that it was very important and that he would be gone for some time.

As she sat alone, she wondered what he was doing right now. Was he fighting the Eratites…? The thought made her sick. She'd meant to talk with Dommel about what she'd found out from Gul Dietz and his daughter, Melda, but the opportunity had never arisen.

The smell of cooking meat wafted to her from the kitchen and the sudden urge to throw up took hold of her.

She raced to the washroom and vomited as the ever-present nausea she'd been feeling these past few weeks since Dommel's return home overcame her again.

Standing on wobbly legs, she left the washroom and got some water, trying to quiet her stomach with a couple of nausea pills, steadfastly avoiding the kitchen as she did it.

Instead of going back to the living area, she opted instead to return to her bedroom, now vacant of several of her husband's possessions. She sighed and sat on the bed, not knowing what to do, or where she should begin her endeavor with Dietz. He had given her a list of many of the Eratite sympathizers he knew of and the locations of all the military's vital shipyards, supply depots, and other locations of interest that might be used in their upcoming strike.

The goal was not to harm anyone, merely to destroy resources, sabotage ships, and otherwise frustrate the Leader's efforts to take down the Eratite ship and conquer her homeworld.

Elisa had been hesitant to accept Dietz's appointment of her as his second-in-command. She felt as though she were betraying Dommel, but her heart wouldn't let her dismiss the appointment lightly and she had agreed to take it.

Her stomach roiled again and she was afraid she would throw up a second time.

The ever-present sickness had worried her so much in recent days that she'd gone to see her physician about it. The woman had run a number of tests, but hadn't gotten back with her about any of them yet.

"_Incoming call for Elisa Lysis."_ The computer-voice startled Elisa and she jumped.

After letting herself settle down a bit, she took out her comm and replied, "Put it through," and waited for the caller's face to appear above the tiny communication device.

The face of her physician melted into the air before her. The look on the woman's face set Elisa at ease. Whatever she had to tell her, it wasn't all that bad.

"Alishya, I wasn't expecting to hear from you yet." Elisa exclaimed.

"I wasn't going to call you until morning, but then I couldn't help myself." The doctor replied, an odd twinkle in her eye.

"So what's wrong with me?" Elisa asked, "It would be nice to know if I can stop this constant sick feeling." She sighed and rubbed her still-upset stomach.

"You're fine, my friend." Alishya replied, a smile spreading across her face, "More than fine, in fact."

Elisa looked at the other woman puzzled, "I don't understand."

Alishya laughed, then said, "You're pregnant, Elisa." Then added, "About three weeks, I would say."

Elisa stared at her physician for a long moment, eyes wide in disbelief, "But – but – " she stuttered, "You're saying this is morning sickness? But I didn't have it with my son –"

Alishya shook her head, "That doesn't mean you won't have it with this baby. Especially if it isn't a boy."

Elisa slowly ventured, "Is… it a boy?"

"I don't know yet." Alishya replied, "I can find out in a few weeks though. Come back to me then and we'll know one way or the other."

"Alright…" Elisa replied, still stunned by the news, "Th – thank you… I'll be back in a few weeks then."

"Good. I will see you then." Alishya signed off and the physician's face disappeared, leaving in its wake a strange feeling of hope that Elisa hadn't had in a long time.

She pocketed the communicator and looked around the room, noting the items Dommel had left behind. Some of his clothes were still here and she had the overwhelming urge to go and bury her face in them, to take in her husband's smell. She obeyed the urge and a moment later, with her face in one of Dommel's old shirts, she cried with happiness at the thought that she might once again have a child of her own – something she had wanted for a long time now.

Then the thought came to her: How could she get the news to her husband? She didn't even know where he was. Perhaps she would have to wait until he came home.

She thought about it and decided that she would surprise him upon his return. After all, he had waited for this just as long as she had, and she wanted him to experience this joy with her, not on some faraway world light-years away.

Then thoughts of the rebels came to her again. What would she do about her new appointment now?

She looked down at herself, noting her still-flat abdomen. Placing a protective hand over her yet-to-be-born son or daughter, she determined in her heart that she would do what she had to in order to protect her child. She believed with all her heart that fighting the Eratites was wrong and that it would cost more lives than it would save.

She would go ahead with her plans to help Dietz, and she would do it for all of Gamilon. But now, she would also do it for her child.


	45. Episode 43: The Keepers

**Episode 43: The Keepers**

Nova struggled to open her eyes.

"_Where are we…?"_ she thought.

She managed to get one eye half-open, then pried the other one partially open too. She looked around – or tried to. It was so dark she couldn't see much from where she lay on the cold, damp floor of what she thought might be a cell of some sort.

Her eyes adjusted slowly, but when she could see well enough to look around she took stock of the situation.

The door – if you could call it a door – looked like a slice of honeycomb had been inserted into the opening at the front of the cell.

There was some sort of dim light emanating from somewhere outside their prison.

"_Daniel!"_ She thought, looking frantically around the room for her crewmate.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the outline of his body lying on the floor nearby. She listened for his breathing and realized that her EV suit was gone and that their captors had left her with only her crew uniform. They'd taken all her equipment, her communicator, and anything she'd left in her pockets was gone too.

She slowly lifted herself up off the floor, a splitting headache suddenly cracking through her skull, demanding her undivided attention.

Nova tried her best to ignore the pain and made it over to the unconscious man.

"Daniel!" she shook the science officer's shoulder and whispered insistently into his ear. "Are you okay? Wake up!"

The only reply she received was a quiet groan.

At least he was still alive. That had to count for something.

She tried looking around their cell again and caught a glimpse of red and yellow metal off in one corner.

"IQ!" she exclaimed, going over to the robot as quickly as she dared in the darkness, "I thought you were left out in the jungle –" She was stopped mid-sentence when she realized that the robot had been shut off. His usual indicator lights were dark and his typically sarcastic, or otherwise annoying remarks were not there to greet her this time.

She was in the middle of searching for IQ's power switch when she heard an odd clicking. It was getting louder by the second, like something was coming towards the cell.

Nova dropped quickly to the ground and closed her eyes, pretending to still be asleep, hoping that whoever this was wouldn't remember exactly where they'd dropped her earlier.

The clicking soon came to an abrupt halt and Nova carefully peeked up at the door.

She nearly gasped in surprise when, in the light of a torch their visitors bore, she saw the face of a man – not like the odd faces she'd seen in the downed ship.

The man turned to someone next to him and made the same chittering she'd heard on board the ship.

"_Who _are_ these people?"_ she thought, then she heard the telltale creak of the door opening and she squeezed her eyes shut again, listening for any indication that the man and his companion – or companions – were coming near her.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she heard the clicking sound again – she realized now that it was footsteps.

The clicking was slow and measured. Whoever had entered the cell was walking around carefully, perhaps studying them as they slept.

She heard the footsteps stop somewhere over near Daniel. Then there was a scraping sound, like a body being dragged along the dirt floor. The scraping was followed by a succinct thump and another quiet groan. Then the footsteps turned and started towards… her.

She waited, hoping the visitor would lose interest, or that he merely wanted to take another look at IQ-9 for some reason.

Her hopes were dashed when she felt a big hand grab her by the collar and haul her up onto her feet.

She played dead, letting her head, arms, and legs hang limply. She tried to control her breathing, make it look like she was still out from whatever they'd shocked her with earlier.

Angry chittering met her ears and then she felt another hand sting her cheek. The slap hurt worse than any hit she'd taken to the face during training fights, but it was nothing compared to the pain she'd felt when she'd been jolted aboard the downed ship. She kept up her ruse.

The sudden shock of a solid punch to the jaw threw her out of her fabricated sleep and she yelped, one hand flying to her jaw, the other lashing out at her attacker.

She landed two good hits on the man before he let go of her collar and caught both her arms, twisting her around so that he had both her hands securely behind her back.

"What do you want?!" Nova demanded of her captor.

The only reply she received was being wrenched around and forced through the now-open door. The only good thing about this was that she could now see better since the man holding the torch was standing outside.

Nova looked at the light-holder – the normal-looking man – and noted his olive skin and dark hair. She couldn't quite make out the color of his eyes in the low light, but she was fairly sure they were dark as well. His face was hard, but, not cruel, and she wondered how he had come to be here.

She continued to stare at the man until he glared at her, obviously not thrilled with her open expression of astonishment.

Nova looked away.

The man behind her forced her onward through a tunnel. The light-bearer followed them and soon they met up with another group of the green-skinned, bulbous-eyed beings she'd seen aboard the wreck.

She stared at the nearest one, noting the strange rubber-like sheer to the beings' skin and the shine on their golden eyes. With the antenna and some sort of wings attached to their backs they looked much like… bees.

She continued to study the beings until they reached a great hall, carved out of the redish, clay-like substance that made up all the passageways they'd come through to get here.

As soon as they entered the room a wave of sound assaulted Nova's ears and she fought the urge to try to cover them. Trying to rip her hands away from her captor would most likely make him unhappier than he already was.

She felt her face starting to swell from the punch she'd taken back in her cell and wished for some ice to put on the abrasion.

There was a cacophony of buzzing and clicking that seemed to come from everywhere at once. When she looked around, she realized why.

Every available wall space was covered with insects of varying sizes.

Upon closer examination of the wall nearest her, Nova discovered that they were some species of bee – at least, that was the closest approximation she could conjure. She wasn't very familiar with anthophila* in general and prayed that whatever these things really were, that they weren't poisonous.

"_There are so _many_ of them…"_ she thought with both awe and trepidation at the sheer number of bees in this one room alone.

After a brief pause in the buzzing hall, during which time Nova was properly bound and the man who'd been holding her hands behind her back stepped away from her and started poking at her back with a sharp stick, prodding her onward. After this, the group continued on their way through another series of tunnels, these being better lit than the previous ones.

They walked for so long that Nova thought they would never come to their intended destination, but finally they stopped. By this time her back was sore from the constant poking and she was so annoyed with the man on the other end of the stick that she wanted to rip the prod out of his green hands and smack him over the head with it. Naturally, her bonds prevented that particular course of action, so she was reduced to merely giving him an irritated glare, which he ignored.

A silence fell over the group as they stood in this new room. There were no hives here, like there'd been in the hall they'd stopped in before, but if she listened closely, Nova thought she could hear buzzing coming from somewhere else in the complex.

The group waited for a long time and Nova thought they would be stuck standing here for hours before anything happened.

She was surprised when, from somewhere off to their right another being entered the room. This one was obviously female and her black and red dress cascaded all the way down to the floor. Her skin was pale like Nova's, but it had the same shiny quality as the green beings' skin. The female's eyes were also large and golden and she sported two antennas, longer than the men's and somewhat finer. Her wings were golden and more opaque than the males' translucent white ones. The female also had long black hair, unlike the green males who wore no hair at all.

The female stood before the group and chittered at them all quite loudly.

"_It must be some sort of announcement."_ Thought Nova, _"But what in the world is she saying?"_

The answer to her question became clear when one of the green beings took hold of Nova and dragged her over to where the female stood. She was unceremoniously forced to her knees before the "woman."

Nova looked up at the female and finally saw what looked like some sort of golden circlet around her head. _"This must be their queen."_ She thought. _"If they're anything like bees, the green ones must be the worker population."_

As she looked up into the female's golden eyes, something started to happen, slowly at first, then more rapidly as the change took hold of the female.

Her golden eyes melted away, revealing a set of piercing blue eyes, but these eyes looked just like Nova's. The strange rubbery sheen of her skin dissipated, replaced by the soft glow of light tan skin, a little bit darker than Nova's own. The wings disappeared, as though they were nothing more than a hologram. The antenna, however, remained where they were.

Nova's eyes widened as she realized what was going on, _"They're wearing suits!"_ she thought. _"And the clicking is some sort of addition to their shoes."_

Her theory was confirmed when one of the green beings stepped up beside the woman and proceeded to go through the same transformation. The golden eyes disappeared along with the wings, and the green skin peeled back to reveal another olive-skinned man with dark eyes and hair – hidden by the shining green skin that had covered his head previously. Like the woman, his antennas also remained.

Nova looked around, seeing that every other man had done the same as the pair standing before her.

She let out a tiny sigh of relief; knowing that she was dealing with people made her just a bit more at ease with the situation, though she had no idea how she was going to communicate with them. Their language of clicks and chitters was something she had no way of deciphering, much less replicating. If only she had IQ with her, perhaps he could help her a little bit, but he was back in the cell, deactivated.

Her wondering was put to rest a moment later when the woman reached out and stuck a little triangular metal piece onto Nova's forehead, then stuck another one on her own.

"I am Queen Melina." The woman's voice echoed through Nova's mind even as the chittering emanated from her mouth. "What are you doing here on Bemera, snooping around?"

The anger in the woman's voice was almost palatable.

"I apologize," Nova began, "We didn't know that anyone lived here; if we had, we would have asked your permission before we landed."

The queen scoffed at Nova, "You are not the first interlopers we have had to fend off, and I have no doubt that you will not be the last."

"_Interlopers?"_ Nova thought, _"Who else has been here? The Iscandari?"_ she replied carefully, "I'm sorry, Queen Melina, but I don't know what you mean."

The Queen gave a curt laugh, "Right! I'm supposed to believe that you weren't sent here to try to discover our secrets! To steal our resources – or perhaps to kill us all!"

"But we weren't, your Majesty." Nova protested as humbly as she could think to, "We are merely traveling through the area and needed to restock our food supplies before continuing. We –"

"So why were you investigating that old ship? Answer me that, intruder! Surely you didn't expect to find food in something that old, now did you?" Melina's voice squeaked in displeasure and the tone of her chittering changed to one of rage, then she added something that surprised Nova, "That witch Sabera will have none of our secrets today!"

"Sabera?" Nova asked, genuinely confused by the use of the strange name – at least, she _thought_ it was a name.

"Don't play dumb with me, little spy." Melina's voice turned icy and it gave Nova chills to hear it. "You know her well. You may bear the same skin tone as we do, but I know well the ash-green skin that witch wears, and I know that your associates – however many you brought with you – bear it as well. And that android with you – he's one of their new soldiers, isn't he!"

Nova was speechless at this outburst. None of it made any sense to her. Obviously they'd been mistaken for someone else – someone whose presence was quite a bit less than welcome.

"I – I apologize for upsetting you, your Majesty, but we don't know anyone named 'Sabera,' and we all bear variations of the same skin tone as you and I." Nova tried to assure the woman that they weren't who she thought they were, but Melina would have none of it.

"Take her back to her cell and bring me the man." Melina hissed to the formerly-green man standing next to her.

The servant bowed and stepped away from the queen, grabbing Nova by the arm and jerking her to her feet again before dragging her away, the tiny triangle still affixed to her forehead.

* * *

The men loosed Nova from her bonds and threw her back into the cell she'd been taken from. An instant later, they were hauling a half-conscious Daniel out.

The cell door rang with the sound of clanking metal as it closed behind the group once again.

The clicking of the men's shoes faded as they left with their new hostage.

"_God, protect him."_ She prayed as Daniel was hauled off to stand before their accusers, just as she had, _"Please, don't let them hurt him. He doesn't know any more than I do. And give us a way out of here, Lord. We have no defense against these people. They won't believe that we mean them not harm…"_ tears began to well up in her eyes as the adrenaline she'd been running on began to ebb and the emotion of the moment crashed down on her.

* * *

Daniel was jolted awake when a solid right hook connected with his face.

"Ow!" he yelled at whoever had punched him, "Cut that out!" His eyes popped open to see a number of olive-skinned faces staring at him.

"_Lovely…"_ he thought, _"Where have we ended up now…?"_ he took a deep breath, trying to secret away the fear that was rising in him.

A man, standing right in front of him, grabbed Daniel's collar and pulled him up so his feet were flat on the ground.

The science officer realized that he'd been hanging from the shoulders of two other men. They'd dragged him a good ways away from wherever he'd been before, that he was sure of.

He vaguely remembered Lieutenant Forrester's voice asking him if he was alright, but other than that, he couldn't remember anything after he'd been jolted into unconsciousness back aboard that old wreck of a ship.

Now solidly on his feet, Daniel's hands were bound behind him and he was poked with a stick until he started walking in the assigned direction.

They passed through a room with walls covered in insects. Daniel didn't pay them much mind; he just made sure that none of them stung him on their brief journey through the room.

Once out of there, the rest of the trip seemed fairly short to Daniel. They trekked into another large room. At the other end stood a woman. She didn't look particularly remarkable to him. She wasn't ugly, but she was no beauty either.

Daniel's captors shoved him forward towards the woman and once he stood before her he was forced to his knees.

The science officer was stunned when the woman reached out and stuck something to his forehead.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked, nervous that it might be something that would do him harm, but he relaxed a bit when he noticed something stuck to the woman's head too. Then he heard her voice inside his head and his eyes widened.

"I am Queen, Melina." The woman said, "And if you don't tell me who sent you, I will kill you right where you are."

The woman's chilling words struck fear into Daniel's heart. He didn't know if she meant them or not, but he didn't want to find out. "Th – the _Argo_, Queen."he managed, "I'm part of a team sent to get food for our ship. We didn't intend to be here very long."

The woman stood and lunged at Daniel, striking him with blood-red nails, gashing his cheek. "You and that woman can't fool me, spy!' she hissed into Daniel's shocked face, "Tell me the _real_ reason you're here!" she whipped out a small object and Daniel realized that it was the little pen-like thing that he'd found – the one with the odd map on it. "I _know_ you stole this from that ship!" she pointed animatedly at the tiny object, "Why is it so important to you?!"

Daniel had no words. The woman was making no sense.

"I – just…" he began, then choked, fearing what this "Queen Melina" might do to him, but there was no other answer than the truth, so he continued, "I found it while we were exploring that old ship. We were just about to leave to search for food. I don't even know what it is."

Melina's eyes narrowed, "You will tell me now, spy. _And _you will tell me how many others Sabera has employed to come here with you."

The Queen raised a threatening hand.

Daniel swallowed hard as he saw his own blood still caked under those sharp, crimson nails.

"I – I'm sorry, your Majesty, but I don't have an answer for you." Daniel replied in as small a voice as he could.

The cold fist of fear rammed through his clenched gut when he heard the queen's next words.

Melina looked at two of her men and pointed to Daniel, saying, "Beat it out of him."

The science officer braced himself, knowing exactly what was coming and feeling panic set in as he also realized that there was nothing he could do to stop it.

* * *

**Episode 43 Notes:**

* Anthophila - Any of numerous winged, hairy-bodied, usually stinging hymenopteran insects of the superfamily Apoidea, including both solitary species and social species such as the honeybees, and characterized by sucking and chewing mouthparts for gathering nectar and pollen.


	46. Episode 44: The Three Sisters

**Episode 44: The Three Sisters**

Nova sat in the dark cell, listening intently for the sound of the clicking footsteps of their captors. Would they never bring Daniel back? It had been over two hours since they'd left – too long.

She had been trying to get IQ-9 back online, but in the dark, she was too handicapped to successfully repair him. Whatever these people had done to the robot, it was far beyond her ability to fix. She wished Sandor were here. If he had been, he would surely be able to get IQ back up and running.

She shook her head, _"No use in wishing,"_ she thought. _"I just hope Daniel's alright…"_

She was just about to get up and start exploring the cell when she heard faint clicking footsteps.

Less than a minute later the cell door opened and a body flew into the darkness, thudding to the floor as the cell closed and locked once again.

The clicking faded as their captors left.

A low groan emanated from where the body now lay.

"Daniel…?" Nova whispered, her words echoing through the darkness. "Are you alright?" She asked, taking a step towards the groan.

A harsh cough rang through the cell, followed by retching. Nova abandoned her caution and was at the man's side in half a moment.

She couldn't see him very well, but by the feel of his clothes, she knew it was definitely her ship-mate. He had rolled over on his side – probably because of the vomiting.

She reached up to touch his face. Something wet and sticky covered her fingers and she pulled back, bringing her hand to her nose and taking in a whiff of whatever the substance was.

The sharp smell of blood flooded her nostrils.

"What did they do to you…?" She whispered.

"What –" Daniel let out another harsh cough, "Does it look like?" He managed.

"I can't see you." Nova replied, "But you're bleeding."

She carefully felt the science officer over for other injuries, receiving yelps of pain every so often.

"And it looks like you've broken a few things." She added. "How many of them were there?"

"Two to start." He choked, "Then –" He was interrupted by another cough, "three, four… I lost count at six."

"Why?!" Nova exclaimed, suddenly very angry with these people. "What have we done to them?"

"Something about –" Daniel tensed – from pain, no doubt – then continued, "'Sabera'? I don't even know who that is."

"The Queen said that same name to me. Whoever she is, this group doesn't like her, or anyone who works for her." Nova laid a hand on Daniel's forehead, checking for any signs of increased body temperature, "Melina called her a 'witch.'"

"Yeah –" Daniel tried to laugh, but only managed a groan, "Seems like a nice girl, doesn't she?"

Nova shook her head, "Whoever she is, Melina said she had 'ash-green' skin. She's not one of us, and all the Gamilons we've met or seen so far have blue skin. Queen Starsha's is like ours. There must be another group out there – one we've yet to come in contact with…" Nova shivered at her own words, "And if this 'Sabera' is any indication… they may not be very good company."

Noting that the man seemed to have a fever, Nova felt Daniel's back again, looking for the one spot where he'd been hit hardest. She came to a place right above one of his kidneys and was met with a pain-filled yowl.

"Does it really hurt that much even to touch it?" Nova asked, concerned.

"Just stop touching it!" Daniel exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but I need to." Nova replied, letting her hand rest gently over the spot once more.

This time she was rewarded a scream, ending with the sound of the science officer throwing up again.

"I think you may have ruptured a kidney," Nova said, taking her hand away from the tender area. "Try to stay still and don't talk unless you have to."

"Can you move me a couple feet away from here…?" Daniel groaned, "It stinks."

"Sure…" Nova replied, slowly and carefully dragging the man away from the overwhelming smell of vomit.

After that, all was silent for a long time. Once, Nova thought she heard Daniel's breathing slow, and she hoped he was asleep. Maybe the rest would do him some good. There was nothing else they could do for him right now.

While her ship-mate slept, Nova prayed over and over that they would find a way to get out, or that the crew might send out a rescue team to find them. If they didn't, Daniel might not make it out of here.

After a while, Nova found herself getting sleepy. Night must have fallen above-ground by now. She would be of no use to Daniel exhausted.

She found a place to lie down and dozed off to sleep.

* * *

Wen stood some distance from the knot of men as they struck the stranger over and over. From time to time they would stop and Queen Melina would ask the man the same question over and over, "Why has Sabera sent you here?"

Wen knew that this man was no servant of Sabera. He was nothing like the other men and women the Witch had sent to them before. It had been a long time since an intruder had dared show his face here. That last time, Wen and his people had killed the man; after that, Sabera had left them alone – at least, that's what they all thought.

With the appearance of this stranger, his traveling companions, and their intrusion into the sacred ruins, the Queen had jumped to the conclusion that they too were Sabera's spies.

Wen's stomach clenched at the stranger's pleas for mercy, and he wanted to intervene – tell them all that this was a mistake. He had seen the strangers' ship land and watched them as they inspected the ruined ship. They had meant no harm. The equipment they brought with them was nothing like the weapons that Sabera would have sent with her people.

But though he knew all this, he dared not interrupt the Queen – wrong though she may be. He valued his life more than that. No. He would wait until he saw a chance to talk with the stranger and his friends alone.

Wen reached up and touched the translator affixed to his forehead, turning it off. He couldn't bear to hear the stranger's pain any more. He looked away, waiting for the beating to end and hoping that it wouldn't cost the stranger his life.

Wen breathed a secret sigh of relief when the Queen finally bade the others to stop. When they backed away from the stranger Wen saw the blood oozing from his head and staining his white and blue clothes. The man's face was swollen and Wen was surprised he wasn't missing any teeth.

The man slumped to the floor and was grabbed by two of the Queen's guards. The ruler motioned for the guards to take the stranger away.

Wen reached up and turned his translator on again.

He watched as the guards dragged the stranger back out of the throne room.

The remaining guards turned their attention to the Queen, expressing their outrage at the boldness of their old enemy in sending another spy after the demise of her last envoy.

Wen waited until the Queen rose and left the room, her guards close at her heels.

As soon as they were gone he quickly stole out of the throne room and through a series of dark passageways. Within a few minutes he'd reached his tiny home. The place was not much to speak of – just another hole in the wall, much like all the other dwellings here in the capitol.

Wen lit a torch set into one wall of his living area.

The orange-red clay that made up everything – walls, furniture, floor, and ceiling – glowed with the light of the small fire.

Wen would have lit more torches, but he wouldn't be here long and he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself than he had to.

Quickly, he gathered a full water-skin, an unlit torch, some healing herbs, bandages, and a little food, and stuffed them into a small bag. With that, he snuffed out the light and continued on his way through the silent darkness, hoping he wouldn't be caught doing this.

* * *

Nova woke to a persistent scratching noise.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked around as well as she could. Her eyes had adjusted, but she still couldn't see well enough to be able to clearly view most of the cell. Instead of looking for the source of the noise with useless eyes, she closed them again and sat up slowly, listening.

The sound was coming from somewhere ahead of her.

Slowly, she crawled forward, trying not to make any noise, lest she alert whatever it was to her presence.

The scratching came to a sudden halt.

Nova stopped right where she was and tried to slow her breathing, making herself as quiet as she could. Thankfully, Daniel was still asleep.

Another sound came to Nova in the darkness, and it made her skin crawl.

Clicking.

Someone was in here with them.

She fought the surge of panic as she quickly thought of some way to protect herself and her wounded crew-mate. There wasn't anything on the ground, not even rocks; she'd looked.

If it came down to her or this "visitor," she might have to fight him hand-to-hand. Taking a silent breath, she steeled herself for whatever was to come. But just when she thought she was ready for anything, a hand touched her shoulder and she shrieked, lashing out with a closed fist.

"Friend! Friend!" came the loud, startled whisper as the man jumped back.

The words sounded in her mind and Nova knew that this must be one of their captors.

"You're no friend!" She hissed back, "A friend wouldn't have beaten a stranger half to death!"

"I am sorry that happened." The stranger whispered back, "But please, believe me, I wanted no part of it. I know you are who you say you are."

With those words came the hiss of lit fire and the glow of a torch flickered to life. The man's face appeared next to it and Nova breathed in sharply as she realized it was the man whose face had been uncovered when the group had come to get her.

The stranger approached Nova slowly, hand outstretched, showing her he was unarmed.

"Why are you here?" she asked, still quite suspicious.

"I've come to help you." He replied, starting to reach for a bag he had slung over one shoulder.

"Hold it right there." Nova said, authoritatively. "What's in that bag?"

"Things to help your friend." He motioned to Daniel, still lying on the floor several feet away.

"Hand it over." Nova held out a hand so that the stranger could pass her the bag.

He did as she asked and gave it to her.

She opened the bag slowly, just in case it held something nasty, or poisonous, but as she held the contents up to the light of the torch, she found the stranger to be telling the truth. The only things she didn't recognize right away were some dried leaves in a clay container, but upon closer examination, she realized that they were herbs of some kind.

"What do these do?" she asked the stranger, pointing to the herbs.

"They have potent healing properties. We use them to treat wounds." He replied.

"You use some of it first." Nova directed, holding out the clay jar for the man to take.

"Alright…" He replied, slowly taking out a little bit of the herb. He crunched it up into tiny pieces and sprinkled it over a small cut on his arm. "Hand me the water," he said to Nova.

She reached into the bag and pulled out the water-skin, handing it over.

The man opened the container and poured a few drops of water onto the crushed herbs. Then he proceeded to mix it into a thin paste and rub it on the cut.

Nova waited a few minutes in silence. Finally satisfied that the plant wasn't poisonous, she relented, "Alright, you can use it on him." She indicated her ship-mate, "But keep your hands where I can see them."

"Alright." The man nodded, "I understand."

He slowly moved over to the man lying on the ground. "Can you hold this?" he indicated the light.

Nova slowly took it. At least now she had a weapon if she needed it.

Both Nova and the stranger knelt beside Daniel. The stranger examined the science officer much as Nova had a while ago.

* * *

Daniel felt the wave of pain tear through him again and jerked awake. Confusion clouded his mind when he saw the Lieutenant kneeling in front of him. If she wasn't touching him, then who was?

Panic shot through him as unfamiliar hands began to take off his shirt.

"What's going on?!" He exclaimed, trying to look behind him to see who else was here with them. "Lieutenant, where'd you get that torch? Who's here with us?!"

The woman held a finger to her lips, then answered, "I don't know who he is, but he says he's here to help us."

"'He' who?" Daniel managed before a hard cough. Then he addressed the man behind him, "Who are you?!"

The man stopped what he was doing and came around to where Nova knelt.

The stranger took a knee and his face appeared in the light of the torch. "I am Wen Yi Khan." He said simply. "I am of the Zögii*."

"What's a 'Zögii'?" Daniel asked, wincing as he spoke.

"It is the name of my people." Wen replied before returning to his work on Daniel's back. "We have lived here for many hundreds of years. Our people have made a life of working with the insect colonies on this planet. This is Altai, the capitol. Here, we work with bees. They provide us with food and many other products that we trade with the other cities."

"Why didn't our ship detect any life signs here when we scanned the planet?" The Lieutenant asked.

"Specialized shielding." Wen replied, "To protect us from Sabera's minions."

"Alright, who is this 'Sabera'?" Daniel asked, irritated. "I'm tired of being accuse of knowing this woman when I've never heard of her before." He coughed and winced when he left a little bit of blood spray onto his hand.

The stranger let out a soft, mirthless chuckle, then replied, "She is not someone you wish to meet – ever. She would just as soon kill you as look at you if she decides to take a disliking to you. She is a warrior – but not an honorable one. She is cruel and manipulative. Once she even tried to turn our Queen against the governors of the other cities so that our government would tear itself apart. But what she wants most is to have the great secret we possess."

"And what might that be?" The Lieutenant echoed the question in Daniel's mind.

"We know of the whereabouts of one of the Three Sisters." Wen said cryptically.

The words made no sense to Daniel. He was just about to try to ask Wen what he was talking about when the Lieutenant, once again, asked for him.

"'Three Sisters'?" She asked, "Who are they? Why are they so important?"

Wen did not answer for a long time. Instead, Daniel felt the man plastering some substance over his damaged kidney. The stuff was cool and eased his pain a bit. Then Wen wrapped a bandage around Daniel's hip and moved on to the cut on his head.

Once Wen started cleaning out the wound on his head, Daniel ventured the question again, "Who are the 'Three Sisters'?"

Wen sighed, "They are not a 'who.' They are a 'what.'" He stopped, and Daniel wondered if he would continue.

Finally Wen said, "They are three great ships – world-ships. They left the place history calls the 'Point of Creation' many hundreds of years ago. My own people are descendants of the travelers from one of those ships – as are Sabera's people. That is why she seeks them. She wants to find them – to know where we came from. It is said that the Sisters each carry with them knowledge of the past – a chronicle of their journeys and the worlds they have populated."

"Each ship has information that could lead to the discovery of the Point of Creation. We have all searched for it for so long, and only the Sisters hold the knowledge we seek. There were once rumors of a Book that told of the Origin Point, but I have never seen it." Wen sounded sad and even Daniel started to feel sympathetic towards the stranger. "Perhaps one day I _will_." He cleared his throat and continued, "The Sister's names are Shambleau, Dezaria, and Aquarius."

* * *

Wen's words struck Nova and a sense of pure sorrow ran through her soul. Wen and his people just wanted to find their home. Then another thing he'd said registered and a thrill ran through her.

"Wen!" she exclaimed, startling the stranger whose eyes darted towards her in surprise. "We know what planet you're looking for! The Point of Creation! It's our home – where we've just come from! It's called 'Earth.'"

The Zögii's eyes narrowed "Do not tempt me with false hope. I have come to help you and you would lie to me so cruelly?"

"It's not a lie, Wen. I promise." Nova reached into her pocket for her communicator, then remembered that the Zögii had taken everything from her. "If I had my communicator I could show you the very book you were talking about."

"Now I know you're lying." Wen hung his head. "You just want me to get your communications devices back so you can get out of here – not that I blame you." He finished cleaning Daniel's cut and stood up.

"Let me have my light." He said simply, reaching out to take the torch back from Nova. "I will get you your belongings back, but not because I believe you. Stay quiet, and if another of my people comes before I get back, do not let them know I was here." Wen said as he stifled the light before disappearing into the darkness in the back of the cell.

"Wen?" Nova called out into the blackness. "Wen?"

There was no answer.

* * *

**Episode 44 Notes:**

* Zögii – Mongolian word for "bees" or "hive"


	47. Episode 45: Intervention

**Episode 45: Intervention**

"It's been over two hours since they were supposed to report in." Derek said to Mark under his breath.

"Yeah, what's going on down there?" Venture replied.

"Sandor, where is Lieutenant Forrester and science officer Rowland?" Avatar asked the XO.

"I'm not sure, Captain." Sandor replied, "I can only pick up the survey ship's signal intermittently and I've lost IQ's signal altogether."

"Can you track their life signs?" the Captain asked.

"No, Sir." Sandor replied, "There appears to be something blocking me from finding them. We didn't notice it before because we thought there _were_ no life signs on the planet. Whoever's down there, they're hiding from something."

Avatar nodded thoughtfully, "In that case we'll have to go after them. There's no way of telling what's befallen the Lieutenant and her assistant." Avatar looked at Derek, "Wildstar."

The gunnery chief quickly turned to look at the Captain. "Yes, Sir?"

"Take a team down to the planet and find out what's happened to them. Take nine others with you. That should be enough to get them out of whatever trouble they've fallen into. However," the Captain held up a cautioning hand as Derek rose to obey, "If you find that you cannot safely extract them, do _not_ go in on your own. Notify us here onboard ship and we'll come up with another plan to retrieve them."

Derek nodded reluctantly. Knowing that Nova was probably in danger was making him more nervous than it should have. What was it about that girl that made him want to help her whenever he could? He didn't even _like_ her sometimes, much less agree with some of her crazy notions.

"Yes, Captain." Wildstar nodded, then quickly moved to leave. Just before he left the bridge though, he stopped and asked, "Can I take Sandor, Captain? I'm sure his help would be invaluable."

Avatar nodded, "Very well."

Derek gave the captain his thanks and exited the bridge, going over a list of possible candidates for his rescue team as he did so.

* * *

"_How long have we been down here…?"_ Nova thought as the darkness in the cell seemed to curl around her, threatening to choke the life out of her. It was so dreary and cold that she felt like she was trapped inside a freezer.

"_It has to be getting dark above ground by now… That must be why the temperature's dropping."_ She reached over and touched Daniel's shoulder. At least he wasn't shaking from the pain of his injuries now. The herbs Wen had administered seemed to be working.

"How are you feeling?" Nova asked the science officer who still lay on the floor where Wen had left him.

She received a groan, and then Daniel replied, "Better, I think. I don't feel like I'm gonna die anymore." He gave a half-hearted chuckle.

"Well, that's an improvement." Nova replied, "How long has it been since Wen left?"

"Don't know." Daniel said quietly, "At least an hour I'd say."

"I think it's been longer than that. How did he even get in here anyway?" she asked, voicing the question she'd been thinking about since the strange bee-keeper disappeared from their cell.

"Probably some kind of vent – or maybe a waste removal chute. I can't feel any air coming in from anywhere, so wherever he managed to come in, it isn't connected to the outside." Daniel sounded dejected.

"Don't worry, Rowland." Nova replied, giving his shoulder a pat, "We'll make it out – or the crew'll find us. They have to know by now that something's wrong. They've probably already sent out a rescue team."

"I hope so…" Daniel sighed, "But how are they going to find us down here? We don't even know where we are? And where's IQ-9?"

Nova let out a sigh of her own, "IQ's sitting in the corner, deactivated. I tried turning him back on, but in the dark I can't see him well enough to know what I'm doing. I might break him instead of fixing him. And I've never done any maintenance on him, so I don't even know what I'm looking for."

"I wouldn't know either. Sandor's always the one who does the diagnostics and maintenance. Dr. Sane's done a few things with him too, but none of the rest of us really mess with him. We've got enough to do without having to worry about keeping an eye on a robot."

"Well, when we get back I'm going to have Sandor show me how to maintain IQ." Nova said, "I don't want to be stuck in a situation like this again. If I could get him back online IQ could send some sort of signal out to the ship – assuming the Zögii's shields wouldn't block it."

"Yeah…" Daniel replied absently. "I just hope Wen decides to get back soon – assuming he was telling the truth about getting our stuff back."

"I hope he was." Nova said, "But there's a bigger question here. What was he talking about – those three ships? Shambleau, Dezaria, and Aquarius. They're from Earth, they have to be. He said they came from the Point of Creation."

Daniel rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah, you're one of _those_."

"'Those' who?" Nova asked.

"One of the Christians, like Sandor. You believe in the whole God created the world thing." Daniel replied, wincing a little as he tried to sit up, then finally deciding it was better to stay where he was.

"Yes, I am, and I do." Nova replied, "And obviously there are others who believe the same thing." She stopped talking as the sound of clicking footsteps met her ears again. "Shh. Someone's coming." She whispered.

Daniel didn't reply. He needed no chiding to wait in silence. After all, if the rest of their "hosts" discovered that one of their own had helped him and the Lieutenant… it most likely wouldn't go well for any of them.

They waited in silence. The clicking footsteps stopped several times, seeming to come closer, then fade away over and over again, like a pacing guard.

Finally, the sound disappeared.

Nova sighed in relief. At least they wouldn't have to deal with another round of questioning right now.

Just before she was about to stand up Nova felt a hand on her shoulder. She nearly shrieked in surprised, but caught herself just before she yelped.

"I'm back." The voice of Wen whispered into her ear, "But we must be quiet. The patrols are near this area right now. We can't alert them to my presence." The Zögii set something in Nova's lap, "Here are your things – what I could find of them anyway. I couldn't drag your suits down here, so you'll have to leave them, but you will be able to breathe outside without trouble."

Nova carefully undid the small bundle and felt for the tiny light she carried. Finding it, she switched it on, dimming the beam so as not to blind herself or Rowland. "Thank you, Wen." She whispered, handing a second bundle to Rowland.

The science officer unbound his bundle and fished through the contents, making sure nothing was missing, "Hey, where's the map I got from the ship?" he asked.

"I'm afraid the Queen still has it. There is no way for me to retrieve it without trouble. Now come, we must get you out of here."

By the luminance of Nova's dim light Rowland and Nova both saw Wen motion for them to follow him.

"How are we getting out of here?" Nova asked as she helped Daniel stand.

The science officer gritted his teeth in pain as he got up. The bandages that held the herbs over his aching kidney stayed on and he was thankful for that small mercy.

"We have to use the…. um… disposal chute." Wen replied hesitantly.

"Disposal of what?" Rowland ventured, dreading to hear the answer.

"Bodies." Wen replied, "Most prisoners don't leave here with their lives."

Nova shivered at the thought of leaving this way, but if it was their only option, there wasn't much they could say about it.

"Is it safe?" Nova asked. "And what about IQ-9?" She pointed back at the robot slumped in the corner.

"Well, there aren't any security measures along the chute since dead bodies typically don't put up much of a fight. I came in the same way, but the only reason I could is because I have a pass code to open the grate. You wouldn't have been able to leave on your own if you'd tried to." Wen directed the pair to the back of the cell. "I will dump your robot friend in after you've both landed safely. Once we're down I think I can get him back on. I watched when they turned him off."

There, in the floor in the farthest corner of the dark room was a hole. It was closed, but as Nova watched, Wen reached down and tapped a seven character combination into the face of the grate. The bars disappeared.

"Let's go." Wen said, perching on the edge of the hole, ready to slide down. "We will have to go one at the time." He looked at Rowland, "Do not let your bandages get stuck on the chute walls. If you do, they will be ripped off."

Rowland nodded and winced at the thought.

Wen directed Nova to sit down on the lip of the opening. Pocketing her light and tying the rest of her sparse belongings around her neck, she slid down into the chute. The man directed Daniel to do the same, watching carefully as the science officer hesitantly pushed himself off the grate frame and into the black maw below.

Wen waited, then got up and hauled IQ-9 over to the opening and shoved him in. Once that was done, he went through too.

* * *

"Hey! It's the _Seagull_!" Derek announced triumphantly when he and Sandor flew over the abandoned survey ship.

"Yeah, but there's nobody down there." Conroy replied over the radio. "At least, nobody we can see in the dark."

"I hope there aren't any huge meat-eating creatures down there." Derek could hear Royster whining in the back of Conroy's fighter.

"Ah, don't worry, Royster, if there are any we'll be sure to let them know you're the slowest one in the group." Derek joked.

"Hey, I'm not slow!" Royster whined back.

"Wildstar, I think I found something else." The voice of Jefferson Hardy, another of the Black Tiger pilots, came over the radio. "It's a bit east of your position. Looks like an old wreck. Best I can tell anyway."

"Send everyone the coordinates and find a place to land nearby. Sandor and I will check out the _Seagull,_ then we'll meet the rest of you at the wreck." Wildstar replied. "And keep your lights handy. I don't want anyone getting lost in the dark."

"Aye, Sir." Hardy signed off, his Southern accent still ringing in Wildstar's ears.

Clemens, Hardy, Sandor, Royster, Conroy and Derek, along with Feria, another pilot and two of the gunnery crew made up Wildstar's team. He'd wanted Royster along to help Sandor if the need arose and Clemens had already proven he was good in a firefight. The pilots could provide air support if necessary, but all of them were good shots with a rifle or pistol if need be.

Then there were the two from the gunnery crew.

The young crewman – and woman – had both been the first to volunteer for this mission. Wildstar liked their eagerness, and had seen the fight in their eyes. The man, Paul Henderson, and his friend, Gina Reyes were both from what used to be southern France. Both Henderson and Reyes were casual friend with either Nova or Daniel and neither one wanted to see their friends come to harm.

Derek circled the _Seagull_ a few times, looking for a good place to set down. He finally found a spot to his liking where he could easily take off if he were in a rush.

Once he'd set down and popped the cockpit he and Sandor hopped out, immediately on the alert for anything out of the ordinary.

Slowly they approached the survey ship.

Sandor and Wildstar both had weapons drawn. Their EVA suits prevented them from moving as stealthily as they would have liked, but they soon discovered that silence wasn't needed. The ship was empty and there were no signs of anyone having disturbed the area after Nova, Daniel, and IQ had left.

In the light of their head-lamps they spied IQ-9's tread marks in the dirt and traced them to the edge of the trees that surrounded the small clearing they'd landed in.

"The tracks go off in the direction of that downed ship." Derek said through his suit-mic to Sandor.

"Um hm." Sandor replied, "They must've seen it too. Maybe they're still there. If they're inside that ship, their communications equipment may not be working properly."

"But wouldn't they have come out by now to report in?" Derek asked.

"Probably, but if they're trapped inside, they wouldn't have been able to." The XO replied.

"Hopefully that's all that's going on." Derek said as he and Sandor gave the _Seagull_ another once-over, then got back into Derek's plane and took off, headed for the coordinates Hardy had sent them.

Soon, they landed next to the four other fighters, sitting in the very cramped space between the wreck and the trees surrounding it.

"Well, I guess we know why they didn't land here." Derek quipped, "They wouldn't have been able to get the _Seagull_ down without ripping off a wing."

"Hey, guys, over here!" Clemens called from over near the wreck, "Found some equipment. Is it theirs?" he pointed to several objects lying on the ground near the old ship."

"Yes. Those are from the _Argo_." Sandor confirmed, "And it looks like Miss Forrester and Mr. Rowland were taking samples of some things." The XO stepped over to one piece of equipment that looked like a big box with several compartments. A couple of the spaces were sealed and housed specimens of what looked like algae.

"Th – th –" Royster stuttered, pointing towards something out of Derek's line of vision. "The door's open." The short science officer finally managed.

Wildstar turned to look at what Royster had seen. Verifying that it was indeed a door, he said, "Well, let's see what's inside."

Derek started moving towards the opening in the ship's hull.

"But – but what if something's _in_ there?" Royster wailed.

"Then have your laser pistol out." Derek replied, "Just don't get trigger-happy. And that goes for everyone."

A chorus of affirmations came over the radio.

"Alright then, let's take this slowly. If Nova and Daniel are in here, we should know pretty soon." Wildstar drew his weapon and slowly peeked through the opening, noting that the lock had been jerked off the door without much ceremony.

He looked into the pitch black cargo hold, his light illuminating the space and casting an eerie, harsh light over everything. Seeing nothing too strange, he motioned for the rest of the team to follow him.

"Clemens, keep a watch outside with Hardy." Derek directed, and thought he heard Clemens mumbling something about always getting left outside. "Let us know if anything happens, or if either of you see anyone out there."

"Yes, Sir." Came the reply.

"Okay, gang, let's see what's in here." With that Derek climbed up into the old ship.

* * *

Nova stifled a gag when she landed in a pile of rotting material and… other things she'd rather not think about.

She held her breath and quickly scrambled out of the pile about ten seconds before Rowland came crashing down into the same pile.

"Oh, yuck, what is this?" he asked in disgust as he struggled to climb out of the reeking mess, grunting in pain as he did so.

IQ landed in the pile a few seconds later and Nova struggled to pull him out of the stinking heap just before Wen landed.

"You probably don't want to know." Wen said in response to Daniel's question. "Just be glad that the smell doesn't carry far past this chamber."

Daniel grimaced at the thought of having to smell this stinking odor for any length of time.

"Your light." The tribesman directed Nova over to IQ's deactivated hulk and looked at the back of the robot carefully. A moment later he had the robot's dome lit up again.

"What is going on?" the robot demanded, "Where are we?"

"Shh!" Nova hissed, pocketing her light once more, "Turn your volume down, IQ. We're underground, trying to get out of a city of people who want us dead."

The robot blipped a sarcastic-sounding response, but did as he was asked and stayed silent, not asking anything else.

"This way." Wen motioned for the three to follow him. "There is a secret exit not too far from here."

"So why are you helping us escape?' Daniel asked as IQ-9 helped him along.

"Because I cannot let them kill you." Wen replied, "I've seen enough death here. And I know that, if they killed you, you would have died wrongfully. I cannot live with that." He stopped, a fork in the tunnel looming before them. Wen looked one way, then the other before taking the left passage. "I have helped others before."

"Hasn't anyone suspected you?" Nova asked.

Wen chuckled mirthlessly, "The guards often forget about prisoners once they've been in the prison for a while. After that, I can safely get them out. But I only help those I know to be of no harm to my people, all others I am happy to let fend for themselves in those dark cells."

"Thank you." Nova said as they followed Wen as well as they could with Daniel's injury. "We are indebted to you."

"You can pay me back by showing me that book you said you had once I get you out of here." Wen replied.

"That I can do." Nova said, a small smile spreading over her face, but, in the dark, no one else saw it.

In a few minutes they'd made it to the exit. The door was covered by another grate and, just as before, Wen put in another series of characters. The grate slid open, allowing them all to leave.

Nova and Daniel slowly stepped out into the night followed closely by IQ, then Wen.

The Zögii tribesman closed the grate silently, leaving no sign of their passing.

"It's so dark out here." Daniel commented.

Nova reached into her pocket to withdraw her light, but Wen caught her hand.

"No! Don't do that." He cautioned, sounding strangely afraid of something.

"What? What's wrong?" Nova asked in a loud whisper.

"Don't do anything that might draw attention to any of you. There are predators in this jungle at night. If they catch your scent, they will hunt you down." Wen said.

"So how do we get back to our ship without being spotted by one of those things?" Nova asked, then wished she'd hadn't.

Without warning Wen smeared something that smelled worse than cow manure all over her face and bare hands. He did the same to Daniel who gagged at the smell.

"There is a better chance that they will leave you alone now." Wen put a hand on Daniel's shoulder, "Your wounds may pose a bit of a problem. They are too fresh. The animals can smell blood and if they catch a whiff of it, they will come for you, despite the… other smell on you. I will come with you back to your survey ship."

"Let's get going then. The sooner we get moving, the faster we can get out of this jungle." Nova declared, then looked back at Wen, "So…which way _is_ our ship?"


	48. Episode 46: Shadow of Death

**Episode 46: Shadow of Death**

Derek cautiously entered the old ship. He swept his helmeted head from side to side, making sure that he hadn't missed anything in his initial estimation.

So far, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary – at least, nothing more out of the ordinary than it should have been.

He slowly took a few steps farther in, giving his team room to come aboard.

He turned his headlamp towards one wall of the cargo hold.

He saw nothing but gray plating and a number of sealed, box-like containers. He was just about to turn around and look at the other side of the hold when one box caught his eye. Unlike the others, this one was… open?

"_What's this?"_ he thought, stepping over to the box and leaning over it.

He reached out to touch the box. He couldn't feel it through the thick material of his suit's glove, but his sensors told him that it was something akin to glass. He picked up the box, looking for a lid. When he found none he studied the thing more closely.

In the light of his lamp he noticed a small panel set into what he assumed was the front of the box.

He touched it with the tip of one finger and nearly dropped it when suddenly the top of the box melted closed.

"Hey, Sandor, come look at this." Wildstar called the science officer over.

Derek held up the small box so that Sandor could see it.

"Watch this." Derek said, and touched the control panel again. This time, the lid disappeared, reforming itself around the rest of the box.

Sandor studied the thing thoughtfully, and then asked, "Was there anything in it when you picked it up?"

"Nope." Derek replied, turning the box upside down and shaking it just to make sure it was empty. "Nothing in it."

"Let me try something else." Sandor held out his hand and Derek passed him the odd box.

The XO stared hard at the thing for a few seconds, then announced, "They were here."

"How do you know that?" Derek asked, taking the box back and setting it in its place once again.

"Traces of the same materials used to make up our EVA suits are on that box. Unless there's someone else here with suits like ours, it has to be them – or at least, _one_ of them." Sandor explained before turning and walking farther into the dark ship. A moment later he made a triumphant announcement, "Dust!"

"What about dust?" Derek asked, following the other man farther inside the ship.

Sandor was pointing at the ground near another door, this one circular instead of square. It opened, not from the right or left, or even from the top or bottom like a normal door might. Instead, this one opened from the center, swirling outward to open and inward to close.

"That's a weird door." Derek said without ceremony, "And whose footprints are those?" he pointed at the very thing Sandor was indicating.

"I can't say for sure, Wildstar, but they look like they could be Nova's. They're a lot smaller than ours, and the boot-print is just like the ones made by our suits."

"What would Nova be doing over here by this door?" Derek asked, "Do you think that Nova and Daniel are stuck on the other side of it?"

Sandor studied the door thoughtfully, then replied, "No… I don't think so. There's no evidence that this door has been opened for some time." He reached out and touched one of the plates that made up the strange door. He withdrew his gloved hand and held it out for Wildstar to see.

"Dust." Sandor repeated, "Just like the rest of this hold – all except for that box you found and the footprints on the –" The science officer stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening, "Everyone stop!" he exclaimed, turning back towards the entrance.

Thankfully most of the team was still near the entrance.

"Don't move." The XO instructed again, then he proceeded to stare at the ground around the door.

"Uh, Sandor, what's going on?" Derek asked, confused at the other man's actions.

"Hey, can we just leave now?" Henderson piped up, "This place is getting' kinda creepy."

"No." Sandor replied, eyes still turned downward, studying the floor.

As Derek watched, Sandor slowly took first one step, then another back towards the entrance.

Finally, he came to the place where Derek had picked up the empty box.

Sandor looked up, helmeted head turning back to look at Derek as he said, "Nova and Daniel were here, but they weren't alone."

"What?!" a chorus of confused fear rang through the radio until Wildstar broke into the melee saying, "Everyone be quiet!" then he addressed Sandor, "What do you mean, they weren't alone? Do you mean IQ-9 came in with them? How would he have gotten through such a narrow door?"

Sandor motioned for Derek to join him near the open box.

Wildstar complied and came, stepping carefully just as Sandor had, though he still didn't know why.

"IQ-9 never came into the hold." Sandor said, pointing down at the floor. "Look at this."

Derek looked down, but all he saw was a mess of disturbed dust. "Yeah, so they walked through here. So what?"

"They wouldn't have made this much of a disturbance." Sandor replied, "Look at all the moved dust. And look at the entrance. There aren't any tread marks at all anywhere in this hold. If IQ had come in, there would be at least _some_ indicator that he'd stood near the entrance, whether or not he came any farther than that."

"But there's almost no dust right in front of the door." Derek replied.

"Exactly, Wildstar." Sandor replied, "The lack of dust in so many places indicates the presence of more than just our two crewmembers." Sandor turned his lamp back to the floor and began sweeping this way and that, as if looking for something. Suddenly he exclaimed, "There!" and pointed to an odd marking on the floor.

Derek looked where the other man pointed and saw… a shoeprint?

"What's _that_ doing in here?" Derek asked, "And what's with the weird shape?"

Sandor shook his head and studied the mark for a moment before replying. "It's like a group of people – with some sort of modified shoes – came through here not long ago." He stopped to look up at Derek, "And did you notice the large mark on the floor near that second hatch? It looked like someone fell on the floor."

"Exactly what're you saying, Sandor?" Derek asked, eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of the science officers' observations.

"I'm saying that I believe both Daniel and Nova were here, but they were taken by another group of people."

"You mean they were kidnapped?" Conroy suddenly interjected, "How're we going to find them now?"

Sandor held up a hand as the entire group started to express their trepidation, "Don't worry, I'm sure we can figure out which way they were taken. There are most likely tracks outside that we can follow, and if not, we always have the planes. We can do an aerial search in the morning if it comes to it." He looked at Wildstar, "Do you agree?"

"Oh – yes, that sounds like a descent plan." Derek replied, the surprise of the discovery still settling on his mind.

"_Kidnapped…?"_ he thought, _"Are they even still alive…?"_ The dark thought ran through him as he pictured his crewmates lying dead on the jungle floor somewhere, perhaps being picked at by the local scavengers. The thought made him feel a little sick, then he shook himself out of his morbid musings and made himself think more positively. Maybe they'd find Nova – and Rowland – soon and they would be fine. Maybe nothing bad had happened at all. Perhaps they'd run into some natives who were curious and had found a way to communicate with them. Maybe they'd been offered help finding food.

Derek took a deep breath. "Alright, everyone out of the ship. Don't go too far away from the door once you're out. We don't want to trample over any tracks that might be out there."

The group uttered their acceptance of his direction and hopped down into the tall grass one by one.

Finally, Wildstar, Sandor, and everyone else were back out in the cool night air.

Derek looked to Sandor for guidance, "How about you take the lead." He said to the XO. "I think you're the one who has the most experience with this sort of thing."

"Actually," Sandor looked back at the rest of the group and said, "Royster, I believe you are the foremost authority on tracking aboard the entire ship."

The short young man inched his way over to where Sandor stood. If he hadn't been wearing the EVA suit, Derek was sure that Royster's knees would have been literally knocking together.

"Just show us where to go." Derek offered, trying to give the guy just a little bit of confidence. "We'll all be right behind you."

"O – okay, r – right." Royster stuttered, then, with a little more encouragement from Sandor, the timid officer started examining the area, the XO staying within a few feet of him at all times.

* * *

Nova and Daniel, assisted by IQ-9, followed Wen through the thick jungle, trying as best as they could manage not to make any unnecessary sound. Wen's warning about predators still rang clearly in Nova's mind as they plodded on towards where the tribesman assured them their ship was.

What if they ran into some big reptile or carnivorous bird?

Wen hadn't been very specific about the _types_ of predators that lived here, but Nova was sure that they had to be something at least akin to what they might have on Earth.

She kept walking, keeping her eyes on the ground so that she wouldn't trip on anything. Suddenly, just when she'd stepped over a giant tree root she ran right into Wen's back.

"Hey!" she whispered loudly and was instantly shushed by Wen.

The tribesman was looking around, wary, ears straining to catch the hint of some sound only he had heard.

Nova didn't say anything else. She stood utterly still, waiting for Wen to either move forward again, or warn them off in a different direction. Thus far, they had had to adjust their course several times to avoid what Nova assumed were animals.

Nova heard something break through the thick silence. She didn't know right away what it was, but when she figured it out, it chilled her.

"People!" she whispered just loud enough for Wen to hear her.

"Yes." He whispered back. "My people hunt at night sometimes. It sounds like one of the parties is in trouble."

A wail of fear tore through the night and Wen's head jerked towards the sound. "I have to help them! Stay here. I will return for you."

"Wait, Wen! No! I'm coming with you!" Nova called after him, motioning for IQ-9 to follow her as well as he could. The robot scooped up Daniel and travelled as fast as his treads would carry him, following Nova who determinedly trailed Wen.

It was less than a minute before the tribesman and Lieutenant broke into a small clearing.

Nova's eyes widened when she saw the devastation laid out before her. A group of maybe ten men, wearing knee length, brown tunics were fighting with at least five giant, black cats. The animals' eyes glowed with angry fire as they swiped at the faces, and bare arms and legs of their attackers. Each cat was easily the size of a polar bear and their teeth just as sharp as any blade Nova had ever seen. Their claws flashed wickedly in the moonlight.

"What's going on?" Nova called to Wen who was just about to join the fray.

"Leave! They'll see you! You aren't safe here!" he tried to make her leave, turning around and pushing her back into the undergrowth that surrounded the area. "The cats come when they think they can get an easy kill. I have to help my people!"

"I'm helping too! Find me something to fight with!" Nova shouted over the noise of battle.

"Why are you doing this?" Wen asked.

"Because you saved _us_. The least I can do is help _you_." She replied, "Let me do this."

Wen grudgingly accepted her help and quickly found two sharpened poles lying nearby. They probably belonged to the two dead men lying several feet away. The sight saddened the woman as she imagined their families receiving the news of their deaths. Then, setting her sadness aside, and brandishing her new weapon, she and Wen charged into the fight, fending off the beasts as well as they could.

"_If only I had my pistol." _Nova thought, as she dashed through the clearing and engaged one giant cat who had two tribesmen cornered against a boulder. Wen joined her a moment later.

They got the cat's attention, distracting him from his intended prey. The two men they'd saved flew upon the feline with a vengeance, taking it down quickly with Wen and Nova's help.

The tribesmen looked at Nova's bright yellow clothes, brown-smeared face and blonde hair oddly, but when Wen placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded to the other two, the men gave her a nod of appreciation and seemed to accept her into their group.

The battle wore on for some time until, finally, the beasts were routed and the three living cats sped off into the jungle, yelping as they went.

The danger now over, Nova turned clandestinely to Wen, "I think we should get out of here as quickly as we can." She whispered. "They're bound to figure out that something's not right."

"I agree." Wen replied, silently slipping away from the other tribesmen. He and Nova, still holding on to the spear-like weapons, disappeared back into the trees and met up with IQ and Daniel who were still waiting for them right where Nova had left them, just outside the clearing.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Nova whispered to IQ-9, who followed her and Wen as they wove their way back into the jungle, heading once more towards their ship.

Once they were far enough out of ear-shot of the wounded tribesman, Daniel said to Nova, "Didn't know you knew how to fight with something like that." He indicated the wooden pole.

"I don't." she replied, "But I couldn't just stand by and watch them die if I could do something to help."

"I thank you." Wen said to Nova, "It would have been much harder without you. I have no doubt that, though they did not know who you were, they were very happy to have you on their side."

"What will they do with the dead cats?" Nova asked.

"We make use of everything we can in this jungle. Those two cats will provide us with several coats or blankets, not to mention the sheer amount of meat that each one will give us. They are beautiful creatures, and I am sorry that we had to kill them, but sometimes there is no other choice."

Nova nodded sadly, "I know… I wish we never had to make that choice – to kill or to die…" she felt tears start to well up in her eyes as the face of the Gamilon pilot, Melda, sprang unbidden into her mind, _"If only there were another way that didn't involve killing them…"_ she thought about all the things that she'd learned from Melda about the Gamilon people. _"If only things were different…"_

She followed Wen in silence for a long time, listening to the night-song of the insects and other nocturnal creatures all around her. Every once in a while she turned around to make sure that IQ-9 was still there, carrying Daniel, who looked like he'd fallen asleep.

Once, she looked back and nearly fell over Wen again as he stopped right in front of her, just like he had before.

Nova needed no shushing this time. She listened, straining her ears, trying to hear whatever Wen had heard.

Everything around them was dead quiet.

Her heart dropped into her throat as she realized something was_ very_ wrong.

A giant shadow whisked across her vision and she whirled towards the phantom, spear at the ready.

Nothing.

Wen too turned towards something – maybe he'd seen a shadow too.

The armed man and woman quietly slipped into place, one in front of IQ and Daniel, and the other behind them.

They stood as still as they could manage, both hoping that Daniel didn't wake up while they were trapped here.

"_They're out there…"_ Nova thought, gripping the spear just a little bit tighter, _"But why did they follow us?"_ She slid her hands a bit farther down the spear, getting a better grip on it. Both of her hands stuck to the wood and she had to pry them off of it before she could move them.

"_Why…?"_ She looked down at her hands. They were dark, still covered in whatever Wen had smeared on them before they'd set out, but whatever it was, it hadn't been sticky before.

Nova peeled one hand off of the spear again and raised it to her nose. She hesitantly took a whiff.

"_Blood..."_ The thought sent a jolt of fear through her. _"I still have the other cats' blood on my hands, and who knows where else."_ She returned her hand to her weapon and gripped it firmly, waiting, listening.

Another shadow passed by, not ten feet away. In the dark, it could have been anything, but Nova knew deep down that it had to be one of the three cats from the hunting party. She could feel the growing malice in the air as it swirled around her, reaching out to strangle her in the dark.

She strained to see farther than three feet in front of her. The jungle here was so dense that even the light of the moon struggled to fight its way through the thick canopy above.

She glanced upward, hoping that somehow the light might find its way through, even for just a moment so that she could see their pursuers.

Just when she moved her eyes, she knew she'd made a mistake.

The air changed in an instant and three enraged roars tore through the night.

Nova braced herself for the impact of the assailant she couldn't see, but just when she thought she would die at the claws of an angry predator, a shriek ripped through the air, making Nova's ears feel like they would explode.

She screamed in pain and fell to the ground, instinctively covering her tortured ears.

She regretted the action instantly as a heavy, fur-covered body slammed into her.


	49. Episode 47: Homecoming

**Episode 47: Homecoming**

"This way." Royster motioned for the rest of the group to follow him. "I see more tracks."

"You sure you're not just taking us on some weird safari?" Clemens piped up from the back of the group.

"Be quiet." Jefferson Hardy elbowed the man walking next to him.

"Hey!" Clemens protested, rubbing his offended side, "Just asking."

"No, they were definitely here." Royster replied, ignoring, for once, the teasing Clemens liked to hand out. "You can see those strange footprints in a few patches of dirt. Then there's the crushed grass and ground cover and the broken branches on several of the bushes. And –"

"Just, keep moving, Royster. You can explain later after we've found them." Wildstar cut in.

"Oh, okay. Yeah. Sure." Royster replied. "Uh…" he swept his head lamp over the ground in front of him over and over, then repeated his earlier admonition, "This way."

The group trailed the short science officer closely, all of them making sure to keep at least one or two other party members in sight at all times. The last thing any of them wanted was for more of them to get lost in this jungle, especially in the dark.

The group trekked on and on through the undergrowth as it grabbed at their suits and tried to rip holes in the thick fabric. They stopped a few times for Royster to get his bearings again, then they set out once more, always following the strange tracks.

Several miles later, Royster stopped abruptly, staring into the darkness ahead.

"What're you doing, nerd?" Clemens protested again, "There's nobody here –"

"Shhh!" Royster hissed into the radio so loudly that everyone had the urge to clap their hands over their ears.

They all fell silent, Clemens included, when Royster shut off his headlamp and motioned for them all to do the same.

The group obeyed and all lights winked out, leaving them all standing in the middle of a pitch black jungle.

Wildstar looked around, trying to see something – anything at all.

They all waited in silence for a full minute before Royster whispered into the radio, "Something's out there."

"What?" Wildstar asked.

"Not sure." Royster replied, "But it's big, whatever it is. My sensors caught something for a second, then whatever it was, it disappeared, but I just checked my logs. That thing was it was at least eight feet long. And it was fast."

Wildstar thought for a moment, then asked, "Which way did it go?"

"Left." Royster replied, still whispering.

"Then we should go right." Clemens voice broke in again, "We can't get stuck out here fending off some jungle monster and getting ourselves killed before we find our people."

Wildstar was about to agree when Royster said, "B- but we c-can't go right." He stopped, then started again, "I caught something else on my s-sensors."

"What?" Wildstar asked again.

"There's something else out here." He stopped and didn't continue for a full ten seconds. "B-before I turned my lamp off, I saw huge t-tracks going off to the right. Like – like a big cat or something."

The group was silent, all wondering what they'd gotten themselves into this time.

Finally, Wildstar spoke. "Which way do the tracks _we're_ following go?"

"Straight ahead." Royster replied, his stutter subsiding a bit.

"Alright, so let's get through this area as quietly as we can and make sure we don't draw the attention of whatever's out here. No one turn your lamps back on until Royster says so. In the meantime, we'll do a roll call. After that, everyone find the person nearest you and link your suit's tethers together. That way we won't lose anyone in the dark."

A host of affirmations came over the radio and Wildstar started calling out names. Each one was met with a reply of "Here."

Derek breathed a sigh of relief. At least they hadn't lost anyone so far. He didn't intend to lose _any_ of them, but if he did, he didn't want it to be to something so stupid as getting lost in the dark.

Soon everyone was tethered together and Wildstar gave Royster the lead again.

"Okay, everybody move slowly." The science officer cautioned. "And don't trip over anything."

Grunts of agreement came over the comm and they all started out again.

A bare thirty seconds later they all stopped dead in their tracks as every HUD went wild.

"What's g-going on?!" Royster squeaked in terror as his helmet visor suddenly lit up like a desert at noon and the gauge that showed outside noises maxed out entirely.

"It's very loud and very bright!" Sandor called out over the expressions of pain coming from the rest of the group. "Close your eyes and wait for your visors to darken so you can see again."

The wails subsided as the light dimmed, then vanished.

"What _was_ that?" Clemens asked.

"I'm picking up a weak signal from off to the left." Sandor said. "It's almost identical to IQ-9's beacon."

"Maybe it's them!" Conroy exclaimed from somewhere mid-pack.

"Why would they be so far away from the trail?" Henderson put in, adding to the conversation for the first time since they'd landed.

"Don't know, but if the signal you're getting is that close to IQ-9's, we have to check it out." Wildstar said, "Take the lead, Sandor."

The XO took over for Royster and started out into the darkness, making sure of every step before he took it.

The night was so thick around them that it was hard to see the ground right in front of them. After the blast of light it was even harder since their eyes had to readjust to the darkness.

All of them wondered what they would find at the end of this short journey. Was this a trap? Were their missing crew-members really just a short ways away?

No one spoke as they forged on through the darkness, but the weight of the situation had begun to settle on them all.

* * *

The sheer mass of the animal almost crushed Nova as she toppled to the ground. The noise assaulting them disappeared just as quickly as it had come and she felt like her ears would never stop ringing.

Her eyes, which she realized had been plastered shut, pried themselves open only to be met by a brilliant light. She snapped her eyes shut again, waiting for the burning radiance to disappear again.

Snarls and yelps from the giant cats forced her to open her eyes once more.

As soon as she did, she regretted it.

Not three inches from her nose was the gaping maw of a dead cat. Its razor-like teeth glinted in the dissipating light. It's dull, now life-less eyes seemed to stare at her.

Why was the cat dead? Had the noise somehow killed it?

She shook her head, deciding that was ridiculous and that she would worry about what killed the thing once she'd gotten out from under it.

She struggled to get free of the dead cat. The carcase was so heavy that she could barely move the thing, even putting all her strength into it.

"Help!" she called out, hoping that Wen or IQ would come to her aid.

She heard terrible sounds in the darkness all around her.

The two other cats growled and hissed, then one of them let out a roar as it attacked one of her friends – which one she wasn't sure, but she prayed that, whichever one it was, that he didn't get caught in those merciless claws.

She heard Wen let loose a battle-cry and she winced at the sound of his spear sinking into one of the beasts.

The cat shrieked in pain, then went silent.

The sound of the third cat snarling was abruptly cut off by the last sound in the world Nova expected to hear – laser fire.

There was a loud thump as the body of the third cat hit the ground and ten head lamps suddenly blazed to life, illuminating most of the area.

"Help!" Nova called out again, hoping that, this time, someone would hear her.

She pushed on the carcass once again, trying to get some of the pressure off of her chest so she could breathe better. She was starting to feel the weight of the dead cat. It was easily several hundred pounds, and even with all the adrenaline running through her, she still couldn't budge it even an inch.

"Nova?!"

She heard Wildstar calling her name from somewhere near where she'd heard the third cat go down. She couldn't see him with all of the lamps shining in her eyes, but she was sure it was him. His voice was unmistakable.

"Derek! Over here!" she called out as loudly as she could, trying to pry one arm free so she could let him know exactly where she was.

A few seconds later she felt the cat being lifted off of her. Then came the relief of being able to breathe properly again.

She started to get up.

Wildstar reached out a hand to pull her to her feet. She gladly took it, happier to see him than she would care to admit.

"How – how did you find us?" Nova asked, noting that Derek had flipped open is helmet's visor so that he could hear her.

"Turns out IQ-9 still had his tracking beacon turned on." Derek replied. "We just couldn't pick it up until we were really close to you. We followed your tracks from that old wreck back there."

Nova struggled to see which way he was pointing.

She shielded her eyes from the light of his and two others' headlamps.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Those aren't our tracks. We were captured by the people who live here – the Zögii." She pointed towards Wen who was now standing just outside the circle of light. "One of them helped us escape. His name is Wen."

Derek turned to the tribesman and said, "Thank you."

Wen looked back at him, puzzled.

"Oh! He can't understand you." She explained, then turned to Wen herself and conveyed Wildstar's sentiments. The Zögii nodded and said something Wildstar couldn't understand.

Nova turned back to Derek and said, "He told me to tell you that you are welcome, but that we must get out of here before any more predators come because of the cat's blood. He knows a safe path from here to the _Seagull_."

"How are you talking to him?" Derek asked.

Nova pointed to her forehead, "Some kind of translator they gave me back at the hive."

"Hive?" Wildstar asked, completely confused.

"I'll tell you everything once we're back aboard ship." She replied, "But we have to leave this place right now. I know too well what can happen when these things smell blood." She held out her red-smeared hands, then looked back at the cat her crewmates had dragged off of her.

She was amazed to see that the spear she'd been holding had impaled the cat right through its heart. It was dead before it hit her.

"Come on!" Nova motioned for Derek to follow her. "We have to go."

She looked around, trying to find Daniel.

She saw him, still in IQ-9's bulky arms, but he was wide awake now, a look of terror on his face.

She looked around at the rest of the group who'd come for them, noting them all and silently thanking God that they had so many friends who would be willing to come out here to rescue them.

Nova started towards Wen who was motioning frantically towards Wildstar's headlamp.

"Turn off the lights." Nova translated for her crew-mates. "They'll only draw the attention of more animals. Wen knows the way. He'll get us there."

Some of the rescue party looked at her skeptically, especially Clemens, but Nova assured them all that the tribesman had gotten them this far and he could get them the rest of the way back.

Reluctantly, the group obeyed and all lights were instantly snuffed out.

"This way." Wen called to Nova after they'd all had a chance to let their eyes adjust to the darkness again.

Nova translated for the rest of the group and followed Wen as closely as she could, glancing back every once in a while to make sure that she hadn't lost the rest of the group.

They trekked on for two more hours before they finally reached their destination.

Nova sighed in relief when she saw the outline of the _Seagull_ in the pre-dawn darkness.

She felt like she'd been run through an old-fashioned clothes wringer. She was so tired she felt like she could climb into the survey ship's cargo hold and go right to sleep on the cold floor. She was dirty, bloodied, and battered, but she was alive and arguably none-the-worse for wear.

She staggered towards the ship and would have fallen if it hadn't been for Wildstar catching her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked as he helped her stand up straight again.

"Yeah, just… exhausted." She replied quietly, then continued towards the survey ship. "We need to get Rowland to the med bay. He was beaten back at the hive. He would be worse off than he is if it hadn't been for Wen." She motioned towards the tribesman who was standing several feet away staring at the _Seagull_ in open admiration. "He patched up Daniel as well as he could before he helped us escape."

"And what does he want in exchange for helping you out?" Derek asked, eying the man suspiciously.

"Nothing I wouldn't have given him anyway." Nova replied cryptically before leaving Wildstar and walking over to Wen.

"Here." She said to the Zögii, holding out a small silver device. "I don't have another way to leave you a copy of the Book I promised you, so take this."

Wen looked at Nova strangely, but took the device.

Nova reached out and touched the thing, causing it to light up.

Words, thousands of precious words filled the air in front of Wen, but he couldn't read them.

The tribesman looked at the display, sadness filling his eyes, "I… don't know what they say…" he said quietly.

"Oh!" Nova exclaimed, "I'm sorry. Here." She adjusted the language setting. "This won't be exactly the same as your language, but I think you'll be able to read it decently enough."

The tribesman's face instantly lit up as he read aloud the first line of the Book. "'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.'" There, he stopped, overwhelmed. "Thank you!" Without warning he threw his olive-skinned arms around her and hugged her as though she were an old and dear friend. "I don't know how I can ever thank you enough for giving me this."

"You don't have to thank me." Nova said, "Just read it."

Wen let her go and, tears in his eyes, he smiled brighter than Nova had ever seen a man smile. "I will read it. And I will show it to the rest of my people too. If this Book is what you've said it is, then we may finally know the truth of our origin. We are indebted to you." Wen bowed before the woman, "I hope one day we may meet again."

"I hope so too, Wen." Nova said, pulling the Zögii back up to his feet.

She turned to go, then another thought came to her. "That device won't just let you read that Book." She said, "If you ever need us, you can use it to send us a message. The signal is weak, so we won't be able to hear it if we're too far away, but if we're nearby, we'll hear it."

"Thank you." Wen nodded, "I will remember." The tribesman looked around at the rescue party who were all standing several feet away, watching the exchange, "I know you came to find food. There is a place on the other side of the planet where you can hunt or gather food without any more interference from my people. We do not go there because it is very hard to get to, but with your ship, I have no doubt that you could get there easily. There is a valley settled in the mountains near a great lake. There you will find enough food to feed as many people as you have with you."

"Thank you, Wen." Nova said, holding out a hand for the tribesman to take.

Wen took the offered hand and squeezed it in a gesture of comradeship.

"We will take only what we need, then we'll be on our way." Nova said. "I'm glad we met you, Wen Yi Khan. May God go with you."

"And may you have a safe journey… my friend." The tribesman replied, letting go of Nova's hand.

"Good-bye, Wen." Nova said quietly, stepping away from the man, a twinge of sadness in her heart that she would have to leave this man so soon after meeting him. She'd only known him for a couple of days, but in that time she'd helped him care for her crew-mate, followed him through a maze of underground tunnels, fought by his side, and given him the answer to his people's deepest question. She felt like he was one of her fellow crewmen now and it was harder than she'd thought it would be to leave him behind.

She forced herself to go, looking back at Wen several times as she followed the rest of her crew-mates towards the survey ship.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she stepped onboard the _Seagull_. Half of the rescue team boarded with her, along with IQ-9 and Daniel.

She didn't remember sitting in the co-pilot's seat, but as the survey ship rose, she could barely make out the form of Wen getting smaller and smaller until she couldn't see him anymore.

The rest of the flight was a blur.

Somehow whoever was piloting the _Seagull_ – Clemens, she thought – got the ship back to the _Argo._ A little while later the pilots returned, docking in their assigned bays.

Nova didn't remember going back to her room, but she was sure that Feria probably had a hand in taking her. She was vaguely aware that the ship had moved, but that was all.

Sometime later she woke up to someone shaking her arm.

"Hey! Wake up, sleepy-head." Feria's voice coaxed Nova out of a sound sleep. "You've been out for almost twenty-four hours."

"What?" Nova asked groggily, then she realized what her friend had said, "Oh no! My duty shift!" she tried to sit up, but the sudden movement made her dizzy and she fell back down on the bed.

"Don't worry about that. Miki's covering it. She said she owed you one." Feria reassured Nova. "I just woke you up to let you know that your friend – that 'Wen' guy – gave us great info. Our stores are fuller than they were when we left Earth. Not sure what half of it is, but IQ and some of the science team says it's safe to eat. Royster says that most of it tastes better with ketchup."

Nova gave her old friend a tired smile, "Good. I'm glad." Then she turned to a more serious subject, "How's Daniel?"

"Ah, he'll be okay. Doc Sane says that whatever your Wen friend did, it helped a lot. Doc put Rowland on a lot of bed-rest and some meds, but other than that, he came out okay. He was pretty shaken up about the whole thing for a few hours, but he calmed down when we told him everyone was okay and that we'd been able to get all that food." Feria patted Nova on the shoulder. "Now get back to sleep. Captain _and_ the Doc said you earned as much sleep as you need."

"Thanks, Feria." Nova replied. "Tell Conroy and the rest of the pilots thanks for me."

"I will." Feria said, then left her friend's room.

Nova was just about to fall back into dreamless slumber when she heard the sound of a communicator buzzing for attention.

She opened her eyes and looked around. Maybe Feria had dropped her comm device while she'd been in the room.

Then she noticed the new unit on the tiny shelf set into the wall next to her.

"_Oh! A new one already?"_ she thought as she picked up the device. She looked at it quizzically, wondering who would be calling her. Then she realized that it was a text-only message.

She opened the note, but couldn't read it. She adjusted the language setting and the words started to melt into something she could understand.

The sentences were rough and broken, and the translation wasn't very good, but she could make out the meaning of it. It was a small piece of one of the Psalms of King David.

"O LORD, my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever."

It was signed, "Wen – true son of Earth. May I one day stand upon her shores and breathe her air, as my ancestors once did."

Nova closed the note and held the tiny device close to her heart. _"Yes, Wen. I hope you will one day do just that."_


	50. Episode 48: Best Laid Traps

**Episode 48: Best Laid Traps**

"Like Princess Astra, you say?" Emma looked back at Dara with unbelieving eyes, "I thought she was on Iscandar."

"I did too." Dara replied, as she ate what passed for breakfast aboard the _Cobel_. Ever since she'd come back from her encounter with the Eratites, she and Emma had been sharing breakfast. The younger girl always took in Dara's words so eagerly that it made her want to tell Emma more about that strange episode and about herself in general. Though she was always careful not to reveal her true identity, or the fact that she'd stolen Melda Dietz's face in an effort to find her lost daughter.

Emma shook her head and picked up what looked like a piece of bread slathered with some kind of jelly, but Dara knew it tasted nothing like either of the two. Emma made a sour face and set the food down on her plate again before continuing. "Why would Princess Astra be way out here?"

"She said she _wasn't_ Astra." Dara said, "I already told you that. She said her name was 'Nova,' or something."

Emma took a gulp of water to wash down the awful aftertaste of her "food." "Maybe she was lying – to keep you from knowing it was really her."

"I don't think so." Dara shook her head, "I'm pretty sure she was telling the truth."

"How do you know?" Emma pried.

"I don't know, I just think she was. There was something about her." Dara replied as she picked at her own food, eating a small bite here and there, then washing it down with a healthy dose of coffee. "And she saved me from that crazy guy who tried to kill me."

"I'm pretty sure that's something the Princess would have done. I'm still not convinced it wasn't her." Emma looked around the mess hall clandestinely, then leaned forward and whispered, "After all, how did the Eratites get all that technology they're using? Clearly it isn't theirs. Our scouts didn't see anything on their planet that would have indicated that kind of thing."

"You're saying that Princess Astra went out on her own and gave it to them?" Dara replied, her voice low. Just as she said it, the strange things she'd found in Melda's quarters came to mind and a chill ran through her. What if Melda knew this all along? What if she was supposed to help in some way? Was this "Nova" woman really who she'd said she was? Doubt began to gnaw at her the more she thought about it.

"I'm saying it would make sense." Emma replied, looking around again to make sure no one was listening to them. "Even if that woman was telling the truth, maybe the Princess _is_ aboard that ship somewhere and this 'Nova' person is a double for her."

Dara sighed, "Well, whether she is the Princess or not, she was kind to me, and so were most of the others. Even the one who tried to kill me decided he didn't really hate me that much. They didn't seem so awful. Why are we trying to kill them?"

Emma looked down at her plate, then replied slowly, "We need someplace to go, Melda. Where are we going to move our people to? Without Erats, there's nowhere to go."

"I'm sure we could find some place." Dara replied, trying to lift her friend's spirits just a bit, "Surely there's _somewhere_ we could go. Maybe the Leader could ask Queen Starsha if she could take in some of our people? After all, Iscandar isn't populated anymore."

Emma shook her head, "It's not that easy. We can't all go to Iscandar. There isn't enough room. Their landmass is a tiny fraction of what we would need."

"I know, but maybe the colony worlds could take the rest of us." Dara added.

"But that's not a permanent solution." Emma protested, "We need somewhere that we can _all_ go – a place we can _stay_ and claim as ours – not someone else's backyard. We can't just wander like nomads through the universe." She stood up, her voice rising. "And what about people like my sister and her family? She has two kids, and she just had a _baby_! She can't be expected to just sit in temporary housing wondering whether or not her children are going to eat that day. We _can't_ live like that!"

Dara stared dumbfounded at Emma whose fiery eyes were now boring into Dara's.

"Sorry, I just…" Dara didn't know what else to say, then she noticed all the other faces staring at them from around the mess hall. "I think you need to calm down for a minute."

Emma noted her friend's wandering eyes and followed Dara's gaze. Seeing that she'd drawn too much attention, the younger girl gave an embarrassed nod to the onlookers, then sat back down, head low. "I just don't want my family to have to go through something like that…"

"I get it." Dara replied, "I wouldn't want my… family… to have to experience that either." At the mention of family, images of her own daughter Constance came to her. What if she'd had to make the decision the Leader… her brother… had had to make? Hearing Emma's view had given her a new perspective on her brother's plight. Maybe he hadn't made the best decision, but if she were in his place, would she have done any differently? "Let's get going. I don't think I can eat any more of this stuff."

Emma nodded slowly and picked up her plate. The two women dumped the rest of their food into the recycler then left the mess hall.

* * *

Celestella couldn't believe her ears. "Princess Astra?" She asked, astonished.

"Yes, Councilor." Dommel Lysis' second-in-command replied, "We received word from the spy Colonel Gantz assigned to watch Melda Dietz. "Apparently there is a woman aboard the Eratite ship who very well could be the Iscandari princess."

"Does General Lysis know about this?" Celestella asked.

"He does." The man replied, "He asked me to bring it to you, since he is quite busy. And he felt that the Leader would not be as… objective in this matter since it could potentially involve an Iscandarian."

"Yes, he was right to bring it to me. This could be a… troublesome twist of fate." Celestella looked from the man before her to the blue planet floating in the sky above the palace. "Hmm…" Celestella tapped her finger absently on the table in front of her. Then a thought came to her, "You have Frakken and his men with you, do you not?"

"We do, Councilor."

"I will send you my instructions within the hour. Once you've received them, I expect you to begin executing my orders immediately. Is that understood?"

"Of course." The man bowed, "We will do exactly as you ask."

"Very good." With that, Celestella ended the conversation and the General's executive officer disappeared.

"_What an _interesting_ turn of events."_ Miezella thought, _"The Princess of Iscandar on board the Eratite ship…"_ A vengeful smile began to spread across her grey face, _"I may be forbidden to interfere with _you_, oh Queen,"_ Celestella looked upward towards the planet framed by the near window, _"But your _sister_ is still fair game. Let us see how well you like it when _your_ family is taken from you."_

Within fifteen minutes the Jirelian had her orders ready to send to Balan. It wasn't hard to figure out what she wanted to do. She'd thought about such a possibility before, but she'd always assumed the second Iscandari woman to be… well, on Iscandar, beyond her reach. Now that there was the possibility that she wasn't…

Miezella sent her instructions. Immediately a wave of giddy elation flowed over her. It wouldn't be long before she received word from Lysis's forces.

"_What will you do, Astra? What will you say when I make you call off your sister? How will you stop me from tearing your meddling sibling's plans limb from limb? Your _God_ won't be able to stop me once I have you within my grasp."_ Celestella laughed at the thought. If she could get Astra, she would have the means to win this war between her Master and this pitiful Iscandari Queen.

She sat smiling to herself for a long time, glaring with evil glee at the blue world she so hated. _"I will win,_ Starsha of Iscandar._"_ She spat the despised name, _"I will win."_

Hours passed this way with Miezella content to meditate on her coming victory. She would have stayed there all night, but an incoming call interrupted her revelry.

"Yes." Celestella answered the call, rather annoyed at being interrupted. "What is it?"

"We've found some rebels." The voice of one of her Purge soldiers sent another thrill through Miezella, and her irritation disappeared.

"Good. Round them up and get them on a transport." Celestella replied, "I have just the place for them."

"Where, Councilor?" the soldier asked.

"Leptopoda." Miezella replied, "The warden is a friend of mine and I know he won't let them escape once they're there."

"The prison world?" the soldier asked, a strange look on his face. "But they're not violent – at least, not in the way most of the criminals on Leptopoda are."

"Are you questioning my decision?" Celestella asked, letting an edge cut into her voice.

"No – no, Councilor. They will be sent to Leptopoda. Am I to assume that any others we find are to meet the same fate?"

"Yes." Celestella replied, "And I don't want to hear any more about it. I don't care who they are or what their political standing may be. If they're rebels, or rebel sympathizers, they'll be relegated to Leptopoda – without exception."

"Yes, Councilor." The soldier bowed and ended the transmission.

"_What a day."_ Miezella thought, _"They will all fall at the Master's feet. One way or another."_ She smirked, _"The rebels will have to learn that their efforts are in vain. Once enough of them have been culled, the rest will fall into line."_

With that, Celestella once again sat in contented silence, letting her mind wander to what she would do with Astra and the rebels once she had them.

* * *

Street after dark street flew by as Elisa fled the burning, wrecked building. Everything had gone according to plan, until the soldiers appeared. She'd helped set the explosives carefully and she'd made sure that everyone was out of the building before they'd blown it.

The small supply depot wasn't anything too important. This move was more about making a statement to the government than about really damaging the military's supply line.

She'd had second thoughts more than once during the whole affair. Memories of all the times she'd followed her husband and the Leader into battle during their own uprising against the Usurper ran through her mind. Now… she felt like she was betraying them both.

It was too late to go back now.

The soldiers had spotted three of her people and two of them were already cuffed and in the soldier's custody. She couldn't let the other one fall into their hands too.

She looked back over her shoulder to make sure the other man was still following her. He was there, sweat rolling down his terrified face. He was breathing hard as he ran, but he was keeping pace with her decently.

Elisa abruptly turned a corner, leading her fellow rebel into another part of the city, one with which she was more familiar.

Right before they reached their destination, Elisa stopped, putting out an arm to catch the rebel behind her so that he wouldn't tumble out into the street. The alley they were in was narrow and pitch black.

Elisa slowly peeked out into the street. If the soldiers figured out where they were headed, they were done for.

The woman looked first one way, then the other, then pulled her head back into the alley and whispered to her comrade, "We lost them. You should be able to get back home without any trouble now. I don't think they got a good look at you."

The rebel nodded, thankful for her intervention.

Slowly, he slipped out of the alley and started walking nonchalantly down the street, like he'd just gone out for an evening stroll.

Elisa sighed in relief. At least she'd helped someone get away. She'd lost two tonight. Others had been caught too. She'd heard from several other group leaders that the soldiers had found them. One group had never checked in at all and Elisa was sure that they'd all been caught.

She leaned against the cold wall and looked down at her unborn child again. She wasn't even showing yet. She didn't even know if it was a girl or boy, and she wouldn't for another couple of weeks. She laid her hand over her abdomen.

"_Maybe this will all be over before you're born, little one."_ She thought. _"I hope so. Enough has happened to our home. There's been enough death – enough unrest for all of us. I hope it ends soon."_

She peeked out into the street again. Deciding she'd waited long enough, she slipped out and headed home.

Once she'd locked the front door behind her, she headed up to her bedroom and lay down. Almost instantly, she was asleep. It was late to begin with; adding tonight's ordeal on top of that was like trying to scrape mud out of an empty bowl. All her energy was gone.

Elisa slept so soundly that she almost didn't hear the pounding on her door just before dawn.

"Mistress!" the call rang out, cutting through the closed bedroom door like it was paper. "Soldiers!"

Elisa jolted awake. What were soldiers doing here at this hour? She was certain she hadn't been seen last night, and the other man she'd led away wouldn't have betrayed her, had he been caught.

She jumped out of bed and threw on whatever was at hand – which ended up being the blue-grey dress she usually wore to council meetings.

"Mistress!" the servant's voice rang out again as more pounding sounded from downstairs.

"Answer the door!" Elisa called to the woman.

After having hurriedly finished dressing, Elisa flew downstairs.

"What in the name of –" Elisa was stopped short by rough hands seizing her arms. "What's going on?!" she demanded.

"By the order of Councilor Miezella Celestella, I'm placing you under arrest for suspicion of treason." The leader of the soldiers, now standing in Elisa's entryway, pointed outside, then said to the one holding her, "Take her away."

"What 'treason'?" Elisa continued to insist, "I've done nothing!"

"Rebels were seen entering your property late last night." The head soldier replied, "Why would they come here if they didn't think you would harbor them?"

Elisa's head swirled. At least she hadn't been seen at the supply depot. But what rebels was this man talking about? Then it came to her. Members of some of the other groups must have sought safety after their own groups were apprehended. Some of them hadn't been careful enough to stay out of sight.

She fought off a groan of frustration.

"Where are you taking me?" Elisa asked. If she knew where she was going, at least she might be able to find a way to escape.

"You'll find out soon enough." The head soldier replied, then told her captor again, "Get her in the car."

Elisa was unceremoniously stuffed into the backseat of the waiting vehicle. As it drove away she didn't bother to look back. She knew she wouldn't be going back home any time soon.

* * *

Captain Avatar stared down at the capsule housing the Iscandari Princess's body.

He hadn't come here since before the _Argo's_ launching ceremony. Most of the crew didn't even know that the woman's body was on board. He was sure that it wouldn't make much of a difference to most of them, but he wanted to make sure that the body wasn't disturbed before they reached Iscandar.

"_We owe you so much, Queen Starsha,"_ he thought as he looked into the peaceful face of the woman lying dead inside this transparent coffin. _"I'm sorry we have to bring back your sister like this."_

Avatar looked away from the dead woman. Even now, it was like she was still here. He knew that wasn't the case. Her soul had long ago departed, but the sense of someone watching over them remained. Likely that was the result of her sister, Starsha's intervention several times since they'd left Earth.

It had been several days since Miss Forrester and Rowland's misadventure. Since then, they'd made two warps.

Avatar found a chair and sat. They were behind schedule. Delay after delay had forced them to wait longer than they'd anticipated. _"If only you had an answer to that problem too, Queen Starsha_._"_ The captain thought absently.

Avatar's comm unit chirped for his attention. He fished out the thing and answered it.

"Captain, we're almost ready for another warp, but Sandor says there's something wrong with the instruments." Said Wildstar.

"I'll be on the bridge momentarily." Avatar replied, then pocketed the device again.

He sighed. Would there never be a moment to rest on this long journey?

He started to stand up, but as he did pain shot through his side and he grasped at his old wound, holding it and gritting his teeth until the pain subsided.

"_Lord, bring us through. Even if I don't live to see the day we return to Earth, make sure _they_ do."_ The old man prayed as the faces of so many of his young crew came to mind.

He let go of his side and slowly left the Iscandarian's impromptu tomb, throwing one last look at the coffin as he went.

The door sealed behind him and he locked it with a code that only he and his XO knew.

With that, he turned his weary feet towards the bridge, wondering what they'd wandered into this time.


	51. Episode 49: Dead End

**Episode 49: Dead End**

"I can't get a reading on anything, Captain."

Avatar was greeted by the unhappy voice of his executive officer. "What's going on?"

"Something's thrown all the instruments off, Sir." Sandor replied. "Nothing's giving a proper reading."

"What would cause that?" Avatar asked as he took a seat in his chair at the back of the bridge.

"I can't say for certain, Captain." Sandor replied from his station, "The only two possibilities I know of are: a massive system-wide failure of some sort, or some kind of magnetic interference."

"IQ-9, are you able to run a diagnostic of all systems?" Avatar addressed the robot, seated near Sandor's duty station.

"Not… compute… strange… things… purple… square…" the robot slumped over, his indicator lights all winking out at once.

Sandor jumped out of his seat and was instantly at IQ's side. He tried rebooting the robot, but just as soon as he was online again, he muttered another jumbled mess of words, then switched off again.

"I need to get him down to the lab." Sandor said, looking to the captain for permission to leave the bridge momentarily.

"Go ahead, but let the science team look at him. We need you up here." Avatar instructed.

"Yes, Sir." Sandor nodded, then pulled the robot into three more manageable sections before enlisting Eager and Dash to help lug the robot down to the lab.

* * *

"General, these orders come straight from Councilor Celestella. She was adamant that they be followed to the letter." Lysis's second-in-command pleaded with his superior to listen to him.

"I know." Dommel replied, "But they're barbaric. I will not hold an Iscandarian princess for ransom just because the Councilwoman doesn't like her. And I will _not_ kill her at the whim of that deranged Jirelian."

"But, General –"

"That is final." Dommel said firmly. "I will capture her, but I will not harm her or threaten to end her life. She will be placed under the care of my most trusted Commander until such time as I deem it safe for her to be transferred to Leptopoda, where she can be kept in anonymity until the Jirelian forgets about her."

The executive officer hung his head, defeated. He was afraid to defy the Councilwoman, but he was just as afraid to disobey his General.

"Yes… Sir…" The officer finally acquiesced, "But what will I tell her when she asks if I've done what she wanted?"

"Tell her I did it." Dommel replied, "I will take the blame for deviating from her instructions. And I will be the one to tell her of my defiance."

"Yes… General." The XO bowed respectfully, relieved not to have to shoulder this burden, but concerned for the General. What would the Councilwoman do when General Lysis told her of this?

The officer shivered at the thought. Perhaps he wouldn't have to be there to see the end of this particular insubordination.

* * *

"Captain, I'm picking up an unidentified object two thousand megameters ahead. With the interference I can't get a very good reading on it. We're fortunate the radar caught it at all." Nova said as she tried to adjust the instruments at her station so she would feel less like they were flying blindly into whatever was out there.

Sandor, who was back from the lab by now, piped up, "I only have intermittent use of the sensors. The only way to find out what's out there is to go and look ourselves."

"Sandor, take a plane and investigate." Avatar ordered. "But be careful. At the first sign of trouble, get out of there."

"Yes, Sir." Sandor said, quickly disappearing to obey the captain's order.

It wasn't long before the XO took off in one of the spare fighters.

Just like the _Argo_, the small plane's instruments were going wild. Dials and indicator lights flashed and whirled like a carnival sideshow. Sandor paid them no mind. Instead he focused on flying. Without instruments it was much harder to keep the plane level, especially since the stabilizers weren't functioning properly. They would randomly fire, sending the plane into a roll. Every time he started to spin off one direction or the other he had to quickly compensate for the plane's error.

Five minutes into his flight he started feeling something odd.

A strange rumbling started to fill the cockpit. He couldn't hear it well with his helmet on, but he could feel the entire plane starting to shake.

"_What is this?"_ he thought, _"Some kind of current?"_ he looked down to check the instruments, then remembered they would do him no good.

"_I'll just fly until I can see whatever Nova found on the radar."_ He thought, looking everywhere for the strange object Miss Forrester had spotted.

He couldn't see a thing.

The only sights to see were stars shining from thousands of light-years away.

The plane shook harder, almost like it wanted to come apart at the seams.

Sandor stopped looking for the strange object and focused on the inside of his plane.

The shaking was so terrible he could feel his seat starting to rip free of the rest of the plane.

Groans and creaks echoed so loudly that he could hear them even through his helmet.

"_What's happening?"_ he thought, just before the fighter flew apart into a thousand pieces.

* * *

Elisa woke up in the hold of a transport ship.

It was dark – probably "night" time onboard ship. She tried to look around, to figure out who was here with her. Maybe she knew someone here.

Then the feeling of panic set in and thoughts of the past day and a half crashed into her.

"_What am I going to do?!"_ she thought, eyes wide, staring into the darkness. _"I can't stay on Leptopoda. I can't have this child there."_ Tears started rolling down her cheeks, _"I have to find a way to leave."_

The lights blazed to life, blinding Elisa. She threw her arm over her eyes to shield them from the burning brightness.

"Everybody up!" a voice ordered from the front of the transport. "We've arrived. Prepare to disembark."

Slowly lowering her arm as her eyes adjusted, she reached up and wiped away the tears still in her eyes. She wouldn't be caught showing weakness here.

On Leptopoda, that could get you killed.

A shiver ran through her as she thought of all the stories she'd heard about this place. Prisoners from the Cometine Wars were said to have been kept here until their deaths. Some Bolars were here too, as well as other low-life criminals. Even a number of murderers had been relegated to the care of the Warden of Leptopoda.

He had a reputation among a good number of the general populace back on Gamilon. Debarzo "Mad Dog" Bozen was his name. Though a number of the people Elisa had heard talk about Bozen referred to him simply as "Mad Dog."

She hoped the rumors were overstated. Perhaps Bozen was simply rather enthusiastic about his position. After all, he would have to be rather stringent to keep so many criminals in line. There was only one thing she'd heard that she was certain was true of Bozen – he was most decidedly a man of many appetites – unwholesome appetites. She'd heard from numerous sources that this was so, and it made her sick to think that she would under the authority of such a man.

The soldier in charge of off-loading the rebels – and a number of criminals – appeared before her.

Elisa looked up at him and noted just a hint of surprise in his face. The sentiment melted away when he looked down at the bonds on her hands – red as a symbol of her defiance – and realized why she was here.

"Move along, rebel." He scowled at Elisa, but did not touch her as she walked past him, following the rest of her comrades off the transport.

Once outside, she was glad she'd worn a thicker dress. The cold wind bit into her exposed face and hands. The terrain – what little of it she could see from the docks – was barren. Harsh grey rocks jutted up out of the desolate ground. Dust and sand blew into her face and she closed her eyes against its onslaught.

Her braided hair whipped around her as the wind picked up still more, forcing her to lean into the wind, lest she be blown over.

She opened her eyes, holding her hands up to shield her face.

The man in front of her was doing the same thing as he moved ahead, following the rest of the line into the wind.

Elisa followed as quickly as she could, forcing one foot forward, then the other. Finally, she made it to the guards stationed at the entrance.

"Name." One of the men asked, gruffly.

"Lysis. Elisa." She replied.

"Heritage." The man barked again.

"Gamilon-Iscandari." Elisa supplied.

"Former occupation."

Elisa hesitated to answer that question, but when she paused for too long, the guard glared at her and repeated more loudly, "Former occupation!"

"Councilor to Leader Desslok." She finally said.

The guard stared at her for a long moment, then noted her red cuffs.

"Not satisfied with things as they are, aye?" he commented smugly.

Elisa didn't respond, just looked away.

"Here." The other guard, much younger than her, shoved a pile of folded clothes into her arms. "Your new uniform, _Madam Councilwoman_." He quipped, his tone so sarcastic that Elisa fought the urge to slap the insolent pup.

Instead, she simply stepped into the prison, following a third guard, who led her to a room filled with other women who'd come in on the same transport she had.

"Shower and change." The man ordered before uncuffing her. Then he closed and locked the door behind him.

Elisa looked around for someplace out of the way to rinse off and get into her prison garb.

She spotted the far corner, mostly empty except for a couple of older woman who apparently knew each other. They were whispering and pointing at various other women.

Elisa set off towards the corner. On her way, she nearly tripped over several other women, all in various states of dress – or undress. She averted her eyes as much as possible, not relishing the thought of having to shower publicly. Privacy, she realized, was a luxury here, and not one she would be afforded very much of.

She reached the corner, thankful that the two old women blocked most of the others' view of her as she turned on the freezing water just long enough to rinse away the sweat and dirt from the transport ride.

She turned off the water and quickly threw on her clothes, not even bothering to dry off. Her face was still red from embarrassment when the guard returned, announcing, "The warden wants to see the lot of you. Get out into the hall and line up."

Dreading what was to come, Elisa followed the rest of the women out into the hall.

She found a place suitably towards the middle of the lineup and assumed an anonymous pose, head down, arms at her sides, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. Quickly, she reached up and tucked her long, bright blonde hair into her shirt. She wanted to make absolutely sure that nothing would draw any more attention to her than necessary.

The odds were against her. Her Iscandari half showed rather plainly in her present company and any man with half a brain would realize that she was the wife of the great General Lysis, but maybe, just maybe, in the low light, she would be glossed over. At least, that was what she hoped.

The hall grew quiet as all the women shuffled into place.

Elisa didn't look up. She concentrated on breathing slowly.

What business did Bozen have with his prisoners?

She shuddered to think of why he might be here, and the thought made her feel sicker than she usually did. She fought the urge to vomit right then and there as she heard heavy footsteps coming towards her.

They stopped near the beginning of the line and fear shot through her as she heard a rough, low voice growl, "Take this one."

The footsteps kept coming closer and closer, stopping every so often and ordering one other woman to be taken away.

All too soon Bozen stood before Elisa.

She could feel her body trembling in fear – fear not just for herself, but for the life of her son or daughter.

A rough, hairy hand grabbed her chin and jerked her face upward.

"What have we here…?"

Elisa stared into beady black eyes. The man's bulbous nose, thin eyebrows, fat lips, and bald head made him look like clown who'd just taken off his makeup. But the sight was no more humorous to Elisa than seeing a friend executed.

Bozen smirked at Elisa, then chuckled as he noted the fear in her eyes.

His fat belly bounced up and down as he laughed. Then he looked at one of the guards with him and said, "Take this one too."

Elisa's heart plummeted into her gut as sheer panic washed over her. She didn't even feel the guards' hands as they dragged her out of line and down the hall, away from the rest of the prisoners.

* * *

Sandor watched helplessly as the pieces of his plane floated away.

Hoping his EVA suit was still working properly, he hit the button that would fire his propulsion unit.

He sighed in relief when the thing obeyed his command and sent him floating back towards the ship.

He sighed again, _"If I can't get close to it, how are we going to figure out what it is, or how to get around it without damaging the ship?"_

Ten minutes later, Sandor set foot back inside the hangar.

When the bay doors were closed, he unsealed his helmet and made his way back to the bridge to give the captain the news.

* * *

"It shook itself apart?" Wildstar asked.

"That's the only way I can explain it." Sandor replied.

The operations room was silent as the rest of the officers digested Sandor's report.

Captain Avatar stood off to the side, watching and listening as his executive officer spoke.

"You said earlier that magnetic interference could cause some of the problems we've seen on the bridge." Avatar said, "Could that also account for what happened to your plane?"

Sandor looked blankly at the captain for half a moment before something lit up in his eyes and he said, "Yes! Yes, it could! That thing you saw, Nova – it may be emitting some kind of magnetic wave strong enough to peel a small plane apart, even at this distance." His face fell again, "But if that's truly the case, then we'll start having more problems the closer we get to it. We need to get out of here."

"But Starsha's map points us straight through this area." Eager protested. "What if we get lost tryin' to go around this magnetron wave thing?"

"'Magnetic' wave." Wildstar corrected. "And I'm with Eager here. What if we _do _get lost going around? We don't know how long it'll take to avoid it. What if we lose too much time?"

"But if we _can_ go around, I think we have to try." Venture said, "It's the easiest solution, and we won't risk anyone's life to do it."

"Captain?" Sandor looked to Avatar for a final judgment.

"Let's try going around first." The captain said. "It can't hurt to see if there's an alternate route that's already cleared. If we find one, our problem's solved. If we don't, well then, we haven't lost anything in trying."

"Yes, sir." Sandor nodded, then the rest of the officers murmured their supportive agreement. Though Wildstar and Eager didn't look too happy about the captain's decision, they too nodded in acceptance.

The group headed back out to the bridge to try to plot an alternate route.

* * *

"Captain." The officer addressed the head of the shadow ship. "The Eratite vessel is coming about. They appear to be trying to leave the area. They don't know that –"

The Captain raised a hand to silence his subordinate. "They'll find out what they've gotten into soon enough. Be ready to assist them should they need it. I don't want them falling prey to such a simple trick as this one."

"Yes, Sir." The officer replied, "I will tell the men to be ready."

"Good." The captain replied. "They must not fail. If they do, my revenge will be incomplete. And that must_ not_ happen." The man's fiery green eyes bored into the officer.

"Y-y-yes, Captain." The officer replied, looking away from his commander. "We will make sure that your vengeance is exacted on the usurper. And if we have to give our lives for it, we will."

"I know." The Captain grinned, "That is why I chose to take you with me instead of killing the lot of you. You failed me once. Don't do it again."

"Yes, Captain."

* * *

Wolf Frakken looked into his brother-in-law's face, a deep question in his eyes. "You intend to disobey Celestella?" he asked.

"I do." Dommel replied. "I cannot in good conscience do as she demands. I would rather go to prison with a clear conscience than live free with that much regret. Will you help me?"

Frakken sighed, then smiled, "Of course, Dommel. Just let me know what you need done, and I'll do it."

"Thank you, Wolf." Dommel replied, relieved. "The first thing we must do is find the Eratite ship. After that, you will need to board it and take Princess Astra. It will not be easy, that I can assure you. We aren't even sure of the ship's location at the moment."

"My men will find it." Wolf assured, "After all, I don't call my fleet 'Ze'evim' for nothing."

"The best wolves in the GRN." Dommel said, rather proud of what Frakken had come to call "his" fleet. The group of men and women had proven themselves to be excellent trackers and the best stealth unit in the Navy. "Go. Find that ship and bring me back the Iscandarian."

"Aye, Sir." Wolf saluted his brother-in-law casually, and with a smile, disappeared.

"_I trust you to do the right thing, Wolf. Celestella has reached too far, and it's time she knew that. Godspeed, brother. Travel well."_

With that final thought, Dommel watched as Frakken's pack left Balan and disappeared into subspace, hunting down the scent of the Eratite ship.


	52. Episode 50: Drawn In

**Episode 50: Drawn In**

"Adjusting course." Venture announced as he changed the ship's heading. Going around this anomaly might take some times, but at least no one would die in the attempt. Mark respected Wildstar's opinion that they should just bowl through whatever it was that was out there, but he couldn't in good conscience possibly sentence his fellow crewmen to death just because he was afraid to try an alternative solution.

Mark sighed as he steered the ship away from the strange object. They were fairly certain by now that the thing was emitting some sort of super-magnetic waves. Whatever it was, it had taken Sandor's scout plane and shaken it to death. At least the crew's EVA suits didn't have any metal in them. Otherwise, the XO would be dead now.

The _Argo_ started to move away from the area.

Mark watched the instruments, expecting their functionality to improve. They didn't.

"Engine room, what's going on down there?" Venture demanded of Orion who was with the rest of the engineering crew.

"I don't know, Venture." The old engineer replied. "I'm givin' ya all we've got, but nothin's happening. I'll have my men check everything down here. It'll take a few minutes, but we should be able to find the problem quick enough."

"Alright." Mark replied, an edge in his voice. The longer they stayed here, the more nervous he got. There was something about this place that made him agitated. Maybe it was that his instruments couldn't tell him exactly what was going on outside. In a way they were sitting here blind. If a Gamilon fleet – or even a single ship for that matter – came upon them, they wouldn't know until it was too late.

Mark looked around the bridge, anxious. The Captain was calmly sitting at the back of the bridge – as usual. Sandor was fiddling with his duty station, trying to get anything to work correctly. Nova was doing the same thing with the radar unit. Homer was being his usual self and staring wide-eyed out the front viewport, watching for anything out of the ordinary.

Mark glanced over at Wildstar. His friend was leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head, eyes closed, with no apparent care in the world.

How did he do that? It was like Derek wasn't afraid of anything.

Wildstar had been like that ever since Mark had first met him. Nothing seemed to faze the gunnery chief. Except that encounter with whatever had taken over the ship and put most of them in nightmarish comas not too long ago. But Derek had gotten over that fairly quickly.

The navigator looked back at Nova. She was still trying to bring something up on the radar that didn't look like a swarm of ants running all over it.

She was an interesting person, Nova was. Mark had never seen Derek so interested in anyone before. Wildstar and Nova clashed on just about everything, but that only seemed to make Derek more determined to win her over.

It seemed like every time the two talked, they got into a disagreement about something or other, but when it came time to do or die, both of them did their best to keep the ship and the crew safe. At least that was one thing they had in common.

Mark was starting to wonder about Wildstar. After they'd picked up Nova and Rowland from the jungle world, Derek had been talking about the encounter his party had had with those giant cats. Every time he mentioned the incident he talked about how Nova had taken down one of the beasts with a spear. He admired her bravery, that Mark knew. And he could understand it. He was impressed by the slight woman's ability to fight off such a creature too. But Derek wouldn't leave it alone.

Mark sighed again, then looked back at the controls. Alarm shot through him.

"Hey! The display's disappeared!" he exclaimed.

"Relax, Venture." Dash's voice came from the other side of the bridge. "Orion's restarting some systems. You're station will be back online in a minute."

Feeling silly, Mark relaxed again, hoping that most of the bridge crew hadn't noticed his sudden outburst.

He stole a glance over at Derek and noticed the look of amusement on his friend's face.

"Relax, Venture. We'll be fine." Derek said, "Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Orion knows what he's doing. After all, there aren't any more gremlins in the engine, right, Nova."

Mark looked back at Nova. The radar operator's only response was to roll her eyes.

Venture looked back down at his station and was happy to find that his displays were working again, but none of them were functioning correctly.

He sighed again. At least he had practice flying with minimal instruments. He'd had plenty of time to do that when he and Derek were stuck on Mars. Not much else to do besides watch the sand dunes blow from one place to the other.

"Orion. Anything?" Venture asked again.

"Can't find anything, but we're got minimal power to the engine, which is more than we had. I'm givin' you what I've got. For now, you'll have to work with that."

"Alright." Mark replied.

The navigator pushed the ship to go as fast as she could, given her minimal power.

The ship started moving ever so slowly, but as she did, Mark noticed that she was listing a bit starboard. The disorientation wasn't getting any worse, so Mark didn't think anything of it until he heard Nova suddenly exclaim, "I've got radar!"

Then her voice fell, "It's gone again."

"Hey! I've got communications back!" Homer announced.

"Weapons are back online." Derek said.

"Helm's back!" Mark exclaimed as his station came to life and the contents of the various screens before him now made sense again.

"We're eighteen hundred megameters away from that object! We're being pulled in!" Nova exclaimed.

"Orion!" Avatar tried to raise the engine room, "What happened?"

"Can't say, Sir." The old engineer replied. "One second she was dead. The next… she was chuggin' away again." Orion paused for a moment, then continued, "We're getting' a strange signal from the engine core. Like it's puttin' off some kind of energy."

"Well, whatever it is, let's use it to get out of here before that thing pulls us in any farther." Derek put in.

"I agree." Avatar said, "Venture, take us out of here."

Mark nodded and quickly reentered their alternate heading before setting the ship on it.

He accelerated slowly at first, then sped up as the engine got going.

His heart sank into his gut when he looked down at his indicators.

"Captain…" He turned fearful eyes towards Avatar and swallowed hard. "We're not moving."

"Yes, we are." Nova said, "But we're moving the wrong way. We're still being pulled towards that object."

"So whatever the engine's doin', it's not helpin' us." Eager commented.

"No, it is." Nova said, "Without – whatever it's doing – we wouldn't be able to use any of our instruments. It's cancelling out the jamming effect, but it can't stop the magnetic waves from pulling us in."

"We _have_ to find a way to get close to that thing!" Derek exclaimed, then looked to the XO, "Sandor, you can't tell me you don't have _any_ ideas right now."

The science officer tapped a thoughtful finger on his chin for a few seconds.

"I know of one way we might be able to get to it." Sandor finally said, "But I can't guarantee it'll work. I think we'll be able to get to the object, but I don't know if we'll have enough time to figure out how it works before…" He looked up at the Captain, "Before the ship is shaken apart."

"Do whatever you need to." Avatar gave the XO his consent. "Take whoever you need."

Sandor nodded, then looked at Derek, "Wildstar, we're taking the carbon fiber plane out."

"Huh?" Derek gave Sandor a skeptical look, "We have something like that onboard? How come I've never seen it in the hangar?"

"It isn't kept in the hangar." Sandor replied, "It's experimental. I haven't worked out all the problems with it yet."

"Okay, fine. Whatever. Let's just get out there and disarm – or disassemble – or whatever – to that thing." Wildstar got up and was at the door to the bridge in a few seconds, Sandor on his heels.

* * *

"Commander." One of Frakken's ships' captains appeared before him.

"Yes." Wolf replied.

"We think we found the Eratite ship. We received a transmission from one of our unmanned survey vessels out near one of the old gates – the one between Bemera and Balan."

"Good work." Wolf said, "Watch them for now. If they're still that far out, we'll have to wait until they get closer. That old gate isn't active yet, so they won't be using it to get here. I doubt they'd even know how to operate such a thing."

"Yes, Commander." The captain saluted and disappeared, the transmission ended."

Frakken looked around the interior of his flagship. It was quite cramped in the small space. His men were squeezed into their respective places, watching everything going on outside on tiny monitors.

There were not viewports, only a wide array of advanced sensors and a periscope that could be raised and lowered at will to take a look outside.

Right now the fleet was sailing through normal space, at no great speed. Stealth was their forte, and stealth required patience, not strength.

Frakken walked slowly from the front of the bridge to the back. It was not a long walk, about twenty feet in all. These ships were built for sailing beneath the surface of the visible dimensions. They were designed to delve deep into subspace – a place that few of his men had ever seen. Some of them had been aboard the prototype ship he had taken out just after Leader Desslok had given him this fleet.

Those few men who _had_ seen that other world had great respect for it. It was not a place to take lightly. In it dwelt innumerable sights unknown to the visible world. There were things there that… he shuddered to think of them… had sent fear into even his stalwart heart. Subspace was no place for cowards. He'd made that clear to any and all who wished to serve under him.

Wolf looked at each and every man he passed. These were the best. They were the Etzuvim – men who had come through some of the most horrific times in Gamilon's history, and survived. If they couldn't face a few more devils in their time, then no one could.

Frakken brought up the engine room on the ship-comm. "Keep it steady."

"Aye." The engineer replied, "Steady as she goes."

Wolf's second-in-command, Gol Haini stepped through the door separating the bridge from the rest of the ship. "What's the plan, Commander?" He asked, his typical half-crazy, half-totally sane look on his face.

Frakken often didn't know what to do with Haini. The man could be reckless, but often times he was more careful than Frakken was. Haini had come highly recommended from Admiral Talan himself.

Frakken had been skeptical when he'd first met Gol. That had been the day they'd taken UX-01 – this flagship – out into the subspace for the first time.

Haini's reaction to seeing what so many others were petrified to face was laughter. Wolf had looked at Gol as though he'd lost his mind, and Frakken still wasn't convinced he hadn't. Wolf had asked Haini why he'd taken such sights as the ones in subspace so lightly.

Gol's response had been, "I've seen my share of devils and ghosts already, Frakken. There's not much else for me to see."

Frakken looked at Haini and replied, "For now, we wait. The Eratite ship is still too far off. But she's coming. When she's here, we'll do what we've been sent to do."

"But what if we can't find Princess Astra before we're discovered?" Haini asked.

"Playing Devil's advocate again?" Frakken asked.

"Someone's gotta do it." Haini said with a smirk. "You're too confident sometimes, Wolf."

Frakken sighed, "Perhaps. But I know what my crew can accomplish. I wasn't given Etzuvim for nothing."

"Aye. That's so." Haini chuckled and clapped his Commander on the back, "And we've all heard the stories about _you_ too. It seems you come recommended from not only the Leader, but from the former Queen Talonka herself. That's quite a list of recommendations – even for one of us. The men respect you. You can't ask for much else."

Frakken nodded, "Waiting will be hard for some of them, but once it's time to strike, we will go in quickly and leave without a trace. That will be a challenging task for them."

"They won't take it lightly." Haini replied.

Wolf nodded, "I would expect no less."

* * *

Melda – Dara – fiddled with her communicator, trying to raise her father – Melda's father – but so far she wasn't getting any response from him. She'd been trying to call Dietz for some time now – off and on for over thirty-six hours. Surely he hadn't been away from any sort of communication for that long.

Dara thought back to her conversations with Emma. Everything the girl said was hard for Dara to hear, but though she understood Emma's plight, she couldn't agree with her.

She'd been reading through Melda's Book and notes over and over, trying to figure out exactly what the young woman had known when she'd set out aboard _Cobel_ in the first place. Why had she come on that last mission? Surely she hadn't intended to kill anyone. And she most certainly hadn't intended to harm the Eratites.

Perhaps Melda had been the reason for _Cobel_'s survival. Had the woman somehow sabotaged the ship so that it would leave the conflict early, thereby escaping destruction?

Dara racked her brain as she tried one more time to contact Gul Dietz.

She was just about to hang up when the face of Babette suddenly appeared before her.

"Melda! Dear girl, I'm so glad you've called!" the older woman's eyes were full of fear and she kept her voice low as she spoke to Dara. "Something terrible has happened."

"What is it?" Dara asked, concern rising in her at the housekeeper's words.

"Admiral Dietz… he's been taken away." Babette whispered, clearly petrified. "They – the soldiers – they caught him and his entire rebel group during a strike here in Belarus."

"What?!" Dara asked, sharply, surprised. She hadn't known Dietz was going to be doing any such thing. He hadn't mentioned it in any conversation she'd had with him. This must be something Melda already knew about.

"Something happened and he couldn't get away. I think he was trying to give his men time to get out of the area. He's… been taken to Leptopoda, the prison world."

"_Leptopoda? I've never heard of it."_ Dara thought, then said to Babette, "Is he alright?"

"I don't know." The old woman replied, the sheen of tears falling over her eyes, "They won't let me speak to him. I even offered some of them bribes to let me see him, but they wouldn't take them. Please, Melda, if you can, make sure your father is alright. I hate to think of what Mad Dog Bozen might do to him – or any of the other rebels that were caught."

"I'll… do what I can." Dara replied, unsure of what she could do, if anything.

"Thank you, dear." Babette replied, looking just the slightest bit relieved. "Come home safe."

"I will." Dara nodded to the old woman.

"Take care of yourself, you hear." The housekeeper chided. "I have to get this house back in order before you and your father get home. Those soldiers trashed it."

"Thank you, Babette. We'll both be home soon." Dara reassured the woman, then ended the call. Her heart ached to have to lie to the sweet old lady like that. Melda would never come home, and the Admiral… well, there was no way of knowing if Dara could even find him.

"Computer, where is Leptopoda?" she asked.

"_Leptopoda is fifty lightyears' distant."_ The A.I. replied.

"Could I get there in a fighter?" she asked.

"_Negative. A fighter's fuel capacity is not great enough to accommodate such a journey."_ The computer drones.

"Then what _does_ have enough fuel to get there?" Dara asked, a little frustrated.

"_A scout ship retains enough fuel for one thousand lightyears' travel. Other options include – "_

"That's fine." Dara stopped the computer. "Show me all the documentation you have on how to operate and maintain one of those scout ships."

Dara went over to the terminal set in Melda's room's wall and watched as a plethora of documents appeared before her.

"_This is going to take a while…"_ she groaned, then settled in for a long night of reading.

* * *

"Hey…"

Starsha turned around to see Adam walking up behind her. "Hello." She replied.

"Nice night." The young man said, coming to stand beside the Iscandari Queen as she looked out on one of the courtyards surrounding the palace.

"It is." She replied simply.

There was silence between the two for a long time as both Iscandari and Eratite were content to watch as the night deepened around them.

"What's that?" Adam pointed to a tiny light that suddenly appeared, then vanished again. "There's another one!" he pointed off in another direction.

All around them a host of tiny lights appeared.

Starsha laughed quietly, "Surely you have something like them on Erats – Earth. Alex has mentioned them before. I think you would call them 'fireflies.'" The young queen held out a hand and one of the little things lighted on one of her fingers. "Here." She held out her hand to the young man. "They don't bite."

Adam cupped his hand around the Queen's finger and took the tiny insect. "I used to play with these little guys at home… before the bombings started… Haven't seen one since I was about sixteen."

"The plague took my people, but it left the wildlife alone. Though there is no one else living here now, there are hosts of creatures here and on all the other islands. I've seen many marvelous beasts grace the palace grounds since my people were taken from me. The absence of people has made even the most timid of beasts bold enough to come near places they would once never had gone near."

"What kinds of animals?" Adam asked, curious.

Starsha pulled out her Interface and turned it on, then began bringing up images of some of the animals she'd seen as of late.

There was horses, several species of deer, birds of all shapes and sizes, something that resembled a lion, as well as other things – bears, hyenas, a wolf. All looked a bit different than the animals Adam was used to seeing on Earth, but all were just as magnificent as the ones he had once seen at home.

"Wow…" Adam said in awe, then he realized something about the images, "Did you take these pictures?"

"Yes." Starsha nodded, "I like to watch the animals come and go. There's no one else to see, other than you and Alex."

"You're a pretty good photographer." Adam said.

Starsha smiled, "Thank you, but it's only something to pass the time. There's no practical use for such a skill right now after all."

"You think you could show me?" Adam asked.

"I… suppose I could." The young queen replied, "But –"

The Interface went wild, flashing uncontrollably in brilliant bursts of light.

"Something's wrong!" Starsha turned and without another word ran past Adam back into the palace.

Adam could hear the Queen talking to herself in her own language. He caught most of what she said and realized that she was praying – calling on God to protect the crew of the ship that he and Alex were waiting for.

Adam ran after the woman, wide-eyed, adding his own prayer to Iscandari's, hoping that there was something that could be done to help the coming ship escape whatever danger they'd come upon this time.


	53. Episode 51: Into the Satellite

**Episode 51: Into the Satellite**

"_What's happened?"_ Starsha's thoughts raced through her mind as she dashed through the palace entryway and down into the sublevels where the main power crystal waited.

She reached the magnificent object and stopped.

Starsha laid her hand on the glowing crystal. The beat of its pulsing heart flowed through her fingers. She could feel it radiating through her entire body. Her hand grew warm as she left it pressed against the crystal.

"_Yahweh, protect them!" _she pleaded, holding out her other hand. "Connect with the Eratite vessel's engine core." She ordered the Interface.

"_Connecting now."_ The A.I. replied.

Starsha held her breath and waited.

* * *

"Everything good for takeoff?" Derek called back to Sandor who occupied the seat behind Wildstar. "This is some plane. I can see why you've been hiding it."

"It wasn't ready for use." Sandor replied simply, and then said, "We're ready to go."

"Alright. Let's get out there and see what that thing is." Derek did one final check of the plane's systems, and asked the crewman on duty in the hangar, "We clear to take off?"

The radio crackled, "You're good to go, Wildstar."

"Thanks."

The bay door slowly opened and the ship shot out into the void.

Derek looked around and wondered again how he would ever manage to keep his bearings out here if the plane's systems decided to go down. He looked at his instruments. To his relief, so far, all of them were working just fine.

"_Guess the carbon fiber's doing its job."_ Derek stole another glance back at Sandor. "So what're we doing once we find this thing?"

"We'll figure that out when we get there." Sandor said, "But one thing's for sure; we have to knock out its power center. Turn it off."

"Well, here goes nothing." Derek muttered to himself. He pushed the plane onward, hoping that luck would keep smiling on them. It was an awfully long way out to whatever was trying to rip the ship apart.

* * *

Venture stared down at his station, watching every tiny move of every instrument.

He was glad that they were working again. At least they had that going for them.

"_Why did the engine start giving off that field right when we needed it?"_ he thought, his mind conjuring a hundred possibilities, several of them rather unpleasant, including the thought that Starsha might have sent them into this trap knowingly and that everything up to this point had been a ruse to get them out here alone so that they could die.

He shook his head hard and blinked a few times, trying to rid himself of that particularly awful thought.

He dared a glance away from his terminal for a moment.

Off to his right, Eager was staring at his instruments too, trying to make out anything useful.

The tubby guy had a good handle on stellar phenomena, even before this trip. His resources hadn't been the greatest, but Chris Eager was one of the best in his field.

Mark looked over his left shoulder.

Homer was listening intently to the comm equipment, making sure they hadn't missed some sort of signal from what that thing was out there.

Dash, a bit farther away than Homer, seemed to be thinking about something, though what it might be, Mark had no idea. In Derek's absence, Dash was acting gunnery chief. If they needed to launch an attack, Dash would be the one to head up the effort until Wildstar returned.

Mark looked back out into the void before them.

It was unnerving to peer out into that much emptiness. So many times he'd looked into that deep blackness and found it hard to look away.

He stared deep into the outer darkness, letting his mind float out into it. Out in the void it was silent – nothing to disturb his thoughts, or his peace.

An alarm sucked him out of his trance and his eyes shot down to his station.

"Captain, the pull's getting stronger. The autopilot can't hold us here anymore." Mark reached down to the navigation controls and frantically tried to pull with the auto-navigator.

"_Auto-pilot disengaging."_ The computer droned, not caring that its lack of will might just be their undoing.

Mark gripped the controls so hard that his knuckles turned white. He wrenched the ship to port, trying to steer her out of the field.

"It isn't working, Captain. I can't get her out. And we're fighting to stay where we are. The stress on the hull is rising." Venture's voice wavered as he said it, worry creeping into his already concerned face.

"Pull with everything you've got, Venture. The longer we give Wildstar and Sandor, the better our chances are." The Captain replied.

"I'm trying, Sir, but the pull is so strong."

"Just do what you can." Avatar replied, "After that, it's up to God."

No one commented on the captain's statement, but several found comfort in it. All eyes were riveted on Mark as he held on for the lives of the entire crew.

* * *

"It's so… empty out here." Derek said under his breath, "Not even asteroids or space trash, or anything like that." He glanced back at Sandor, "You think this place used to be something else? Before it was a trap, I mean."

Sandor stared out the back window for some time, then said thoughtfully, "Perhaps. The area's very clean; nothing out here that might endanger passing ships. But I can't really say what it once was. Maybe when we get to that unit we'll know more about this place."

"Yeah, maybe. But don't you think this is strange? Why would there even be a trap here – if this is a trap. Maybe we just wandered into something that stopped working. Is this thing even Gamilon? How do we know that we aren't just flying towards some big space creature that eats ships for lunch?"

Sandor nearly laughed at the last conjecture. "Wildstar, if whatever it was were alive, we would have known that by now. It's most likely some sort of satellite. Though what its purpose is, I can only guess at this point. And you may be right. It may simply be malfunctioning."

"What if we can't fix it – or stop it?" Wildstar asked, his voice a bit shaky.

"We have no choice _but_ to stop it." Sandor replied, deathly serious.

Derek didn't respond, just put his head down and took a deep breath. He felt like space was closing in around him. _"What if this is the end?"_ he thought.

He looked up, straining to see the tiny speck that was their destination.

"_Can't this thing go any faster?"_ He thought, irritated that he could do nothing more than he was already doing. He pounded his fist into a bare piece of hull. Pain shot through his hand and up his arm, but he didn't care. The more he thought about the situation, the angrier he became.

Thoughts of Nova, Mark, all the others whisked through his mind. What would happen if he couldn't save them?

"Don't let the stress get to you too much, Wildstar." Sandor said from the back seat.

"Why shouldn't I?" Derek bit back. "We're sitting out here in the middle of this stupid wasteland in space floating towards something that's trying to kill us all and we can't do anything to stop it! What are _you_ doing that makes you so qualified to tell me not to be a little crazy right now?!"

"Praying." Came the simple answer.

Wildstar was so taken aback by that one single word that he said nothing. Instead, he turned his eyes towards their goal and found that his anger had quieted, replace by something else entirely. _"Nova, if I never see you again… well, I'll be sorry I didn't have the chance to tell you… something I've wanted to say for a while now…"_

* * *

"_Connection successful."_ The Interface announced.

Starsha watched as the engine core user interface appeared before her. She skimmed various reports quickly, noting that the engine was already giving off a cancellation field for what appeared to be a strong magnetic pull coming from…

She accessed the radar data. Whatever was pulling the ship in was eighteen hundred megameters away and pulling them in fast.

"_Yahweh, help them."_ She prayed.

The power indicator caught her eye and she saw that the Eratite ship was running on minimal power, thirty percent at best. It was a miracle they were able to resist the magnetic pull at all.

"Prepare to transfer power." Starsha told the Interface.

"_Transfer preparations will be complete in five minutes."_

Starsha flipped through various security cameras onboard the ship while she waited for the Interface to finish what it was doing. She saw so many faces – ones she'd seen before while she was aboard the ship, and so many others she didn't recognize, but longed to be able to meet and speak with.

She hoped that they all would make it safely to Iscandar and back to Erats.

"_Preparations complete."_

The young queen took a deep breath, and, hand still pressed against the glowing crystal said, "Begin transfer."

She braced herself for the wave of pain she knew would come.

An instant later, her body felt like it was on fire. This time was worse than the first; every part of her being felt like it would melt with the intense heat caused by the transfer. The crystal pulsed wildly as it sent energy through the queen's connection with the ship's engine core.

Starsha saw the darkness starting to infringe on the corners of her vision.

She fell to her knees, but stubbornly kept her hand against the crystal.

She let out a cry of pain, but through it she uttered another prayer, _"Bring them through this, Yahweh. See them to the other side."_

She felt her hand slipping from the crystal. _"No! It isn't finished!"_ Her mind begged her body to obey her, but it didn't listen.

Her finger started to slip off the smooth surface.

Just as she was about to lose contact with the power source, strong hands took her by the shoulders and pushed her back towards the crystal.

"Let's get this done." Adam's voice came as a welcome relief. "I don't know exactly what you're doing, but I know you're sending them help."

"Thank you." She managed weakly, "Whatever happens, don't let me lose touch with the crystal until the transfer is complete."

"You got it." Adam replied, supporting the Iscandar queen as she continued the transfer of much-needed power to the _Argo'_s engine core.

* * *

Twenty agonizing minutes later, they arrived.

"What _is_ this thing?" Derek looked at the grayish, tubular mass floating in front of the small plane.

"Looks like a satellite, or some kind of communications hub." Sandor replied. "Whatever it is, it's been here for a while – at least two years I'd say."

"How do you know that?" Derek asked.

Sandor pointed to something displayed on the side of the satellite. "One of those symbols is a '2,' and some of the others seem to represent time, but they're nothing like the ones we've seen so far – the ones that indicate days, weeks, or months."

"Oh, right." Derek replied, "Didn't know you knew that much of the Gamilon language."

"I've been putting in a lot of study hours." Sandor replied.

"Well, we made it in one piece." Derek quipped as they pulled up alongside one of the oddest satellites he'd ever seen.

"Should we open the cockpit and go in on tether lines, or should I try to stuff this thing into one of those openings all over this thing?" Derek asked, reaching for his tether line.

"Tethers." Sandor replied, "The EVA suits can withstand the field. They're not metal. And going in on tethers will keep us connected to the plane if something should happen."

"Alright." Derek agreed, fastening his tether to his suit and waiting for Sandor to do the same.

Once the two men were suitably attached to the plane, Wildstar popped open the cockpit.

Derek pushed himself up out of the plane and towards the satellite. He thought Sandor was right behind him, so when he landed near one of the circular openings on the satellite's surface he was puzzled to find that his fellow officer had already landed.

"Hey, Sandor! How'd you get here so fast?"

Sandor didn't answer Wildstar, just took out a small device that Derek didn't recognize.

The young man shook his head and started to walk through the opening in front of him.

"Don't –"

Sandor's warning was cut off by a dazzling display of light as Derek was flung away from the opening in a brilliant, tiny explosion.

"Whoa! What was that?" Derek asked, still dazed from the shock and light.

"Force field." Sandor replied. "I tried to tell you. Is your suit damaged?"

Derek checked his HUD. "Nah. It's fine. But my fingers and toes feel like a bunch of bees are crawling all over them."

"Don't touch anything else unless I say you can." Sandor instructed as he reached out and grabbed Derek's tether, pulling him back to the satellite's surface.

"Whatever you say." Derek replied, relieved that his little mishap hadn't caused any permanent damage.

Once his feet were back on the satellite's outer casing, Wildstar asked, "So, how so we get in?"

"We need to find the power source for the force field. All of these openings," Sandor pointed to the various holes all around the satellite, "Are protected by these fields. There's no way we can get in without disabling the field generator. I'm scanning for anything that could produce these fields right now."

Sandor looked down at his little device again.

The two men were silent for twenty long seconds before the science officer's face lit up.

"This way!" Sandor pointed towards the top of the satellite.

The science officer started walking up the side of the thing and Derek followed him, feeling strange walking on what was akin to the outer wall of a small building. It was like walking up the side of a house.

A few moments later, Sandor stopped in front of Derek and pointed to a small, black object.

"Looks like a flower, or a squid, or something with a lot of arms." Derek commented.

"That's the generator." Sandor said, "I'm sure of it."

"And what if that's just some random space slug that decided to make its home here?" Wildstar quipped.

"I highly doubt that." Sandor replied, "It's giving off signals to all possible entryways."

"So how do we shut it down so we can go i – Whoa!" Derek's hands shot up to cover his helmet's visor as an explosion tore through the blackness in front of him. "I guess shooting it works."

Sandor tugged on Wildstar's tether, "Come on, let's get back down to that opening."

Derek followed without another word.

Soon the opening came back into view and Sandor pulled out his scanner again. He studied the device for a moment, then looked at Derek and nodded, "Go ahead and try walking through it again."

Wildstar took a tentative step forward, then another. He stood at the threshold of the opening, took a deep breath and closed his eyes before stepping over the lip of the opening.

No bright lights punched him out into space this time.

"It's down! The force field's down!" Wildstar exclaimed, feeling the weight of his shipmates' anxiety more acutely now than he had when they'd launched.

He opened his eyes and looked at what lay before him.

A long tunnel, lit by a dim orange light, snaked into the satellite.

"It may only be down for a few minutes." Sandor replied, stepping through the porthole and into the giant alien satellite. He walked past Derek and started down the tunnel. When he saw Wildstar staring blankly he motioned for the young man to follow. "Come on."

Wildstar took a second to react to the science officer's admonition, but once he did, he quickly set a hot pace for Sandor to follow.

The passage walls were rough, pocketed everywhere with tiny holes. Some seemed to hold light sources, while others contained some sort of electrical component that neither of them had ever seen before. Unfortunately there wasn't time to stop and examine them as _Argo_ was still in dire straits.

That wasn't an option they could even afford to consider. They _had_ to find the core of this this - shut it down _now_. The alternative was… the death of Earth herself.

With love of their homeworld driving them onward, the two followed the trail of energy emanating from the satellite core.

* * *

"Captain, our power's coming back!" Orion's voice came to Avatar.

"How?" The Captain asked.

"Don't know." Orion replied, "But I'm glad it is."

"_Auto-pilot reinitializing."_

Venture slumped back into his seat, relieved to let the computer take the helm again. His arms felt like jelly from pulling so hard for too long.

"Power's up to one hundred percent again, Captain." Orion said.

"Very good. Do we have enough power to get away from the pull of this magnetic field?" Avatar asked.

"Afraid not, Captain." Orion replied, "The field is too strong, and the ship's made of so much metal… she can't pull free."

"Alright." Avatar replied, then said to Venture, "Keep us right where we are. If the field starts pulling us farther in… we'll just have to hold on until Wildstar and Sandor find another solution."

"Aye, Sir." Venture said, willing his limp hands and arms to reach out and grasp the controls – just in case they gave out again.

* * *

"Wow…" Derek whispered, "Is this the power center?" He looked all around the expansive cavern. Another ten minutes of walking and twenty of avoiding robotic sentries had led them into this room. The walls were a deep red, as was the floor and ceiling. Everything almost looked like it was covered with hundreds of crimson power cables, like everything in the satellite connected here. Everywhere he looked, he saw red.

Derek stepped into the cavern cautiously, his eyes falling on what had to be the energy core.

In the center of the room towered a giant red knot of cords, connected to the ceiling and floor like a giant hourglass. It glowed with intense heat, almost like it was alive; Derek could feel the warmth all the way from the room's opening.

"Let's disable this thing and get out of here." Derek said to Sandor through the suit's mic. "This place is giving me the creeps."

"I'll need a few minutes with it." Sandor said, "Turning off something like this may prove a challenge. We've never interacted with anything like this before."

"Just get the thing offline." Derek said curtly, a feeling of dread creeping up his spine. "Something doesn't feel right here."

"I agree. I'll work as quickly as I can." Sandor started towards the core with slowly, careful footsteps.

He reached the core without incident and Derek started to breathe a little easier. But just when Sandor reached out to touch the blood-red, corded core shell, they heard a strange voice, feminine, and frightening.

"_Li-atah…"_

The voice started as a whisper.

"_Li-atah…"_

Then rose in volume, ending in a fearsome roar.

"_MEESA MASHEENA!"_

"Uh… Sandor, what did she just say?" Derek asked, the feeling of dread from before now transforming into an acute sense of danger.

"She said, she has us and is going to kill us." The science officer supplied, "Get out of here as fast as you can!"


	54. Episode 52: Out on a Limb

**Episode 52: Out on a Limb**

Starsha felt like her whole world was burning. Breathing was an agony she desperately wished she didn't need. The crystal was sending an enormous amount of power this time. Whatever happened, it had taken the bulk of the _Argo'_s energy.

Just when she thought she could bear the pain no more, the Interface announced, _"Power transfer successful."_

The searing pain disappeared, replaced by an all-encompassing ache that radiated through her entire body. She breathed a deep sigh of relief and slumped over, her hand falling away from the power crystal, leaving a tiny trail of smoke behind.

"Your hand!" Adam's voice came to her through a fog. She felt like she was in a thick cloud bank. Everything was fuzzy and Adam's voice sounded quite far away.

She tried to wave him away. He didn't need to worry about her.

"Your hand is burned." Adam said again, trying to get the young woman to realize that she really had hurt herself this time.

"I'll be… alright…" Starsha managed, fighting to keep herself from falling to the polished floor.

"No, you need this looked at." Adam insisted. "I'm getting Alex. We'll take you up to your room."

"But the ship…" she protested weakly.

"You can't do anything else for them now. And you _certainly_ can't help them if you die." The Eratite chided, his brown eyes holding much concern and just a bit of irritation. "Why did you let whatever you did go on so long? Why didn't you stop it when your hand started burning?"

Starsha looked at Adam, the fog over her mind having cleared a bit, and said, "It is not my life that matters, Adam Avatar. It is the lives of those who would come to save Erats. If I must give up my life or my well-being to ensure their arrival… I will."

Adam didn't say anything in return. Instead, he helped the young queen to her feet and got her over to the glass bench close by. Making sure she would be alright while he fetched his friend, he quickly left.

* * *

An eerie laugh permeated the room. Wildstar sprinted for the open door he and Sandor had just entered. Just before he got there the orifice slammed shut.

Red cords melted over the door, encasing the entrance in a hopelessly thick layer of impenetrable crimson. Derek whirled around, looking frantically for another exit – anything that would spell a way for them to get out.

Seeing nothing, he turned his eyes back to Sandor.

The science officer was standing near the core in the center of the room. He had a hand out, trying to get ahold of the core – establish some kind of connection with it. Sandor had a small device in his hand. Derek didn't know what it was and there wasn't time to find out, but whatever Sandor had planned, he would need time to execute it.

"Sandor!" Derek called to the other man through the suit comm system. "I'll –"

"Be quiet, Wildstar!" Sandor's sudden rebuke confused Derek, then the science officer continued, "It hears us. Don't say _anything_."

Then it dawned on Derek. He had _heard_ the core speak. The only way he could have heard it would be through the EVA suits' own comm systems. With his helmet on, he couldn't hear anything outside the suit.

Wildstar shivered. This A.I. had already gotten into their systems. If it had hacked them that easily, what exactly could this thing accomplish…? Could it get at the _Argo_ from here? What would happen if the ship got too close? Would the A.I. shut down life support? Kill everyone on board?

"Not today, you crazy computer." Derek muttered under his breath.

"Wildstar, I said not to say anything." Sandor chided again.

"No, Sandor, I want that Gamilon machine to hear me this time." Derek said defiantly, "We're here to shut you down! You can't just grab our ship out of the sky and threaten to kill our friends! Maybe it works that way where you're from, but it doesn't work that way on Earth, and it's for sure not going to work that way right now."

"_Yes. It will."_

Derek's eyes widened as the A.I. answered in perfect English this time.

"_How can it know one of our languages?"_ Derek thought, horrified that the A.I. had somehow already gotten a hold of the _Argo_ and her knowledge of Earth and her people.

"_I know many things."_ The A.I. said, almost as if she'd read Derek's mind. _"Your language is simple. It was not hard to extrapolate from listening to you two speak."_

A tiny bit of relief came to Wildstar when the computer said that. At least this thing hadn't breached _Argo's_ computers – at least not yet.

"_It will not be long now."_ The A.I. continued. _"Soon I will have your ship… in pieces. And my world's Leader will be most pleased to see the wreckage of your humble vessel."_

"I don't think so." Derek growled and whipped out his astro-automatic. Finding something that looked important, Derek fired into the mess of red.

"_FOOL!"_ the computer screamed into Derek's ears, leaving them ringing. _"I am not some rodent you may scare away!"_

Everything, the floor, walls, ceiling, even the core itself began to writhe. Sandor threw himself towards the core and caught it, wrapping his arms around the tall, red pillar.

Derek fought to keep his footing. It was like riding out the worst earthquake he'd ever seen. The floor rippled violently. Red cords everywhere waved and writhed.

Just when Derek thought he couldn't keep his feet any longer, three crimson cords shot up out of the floor and grabbed him, by two feet and a hand, pulling him to the writhing floor.

With his free hand Derek reached for his weapon, which he'd dropped in the chaos. He strained towards the gun, lying just out of his reach. He pulled so hard against his bonds that he felt his joints starting to pull themselves out of place.

His ankle popped and with a yelp he stopped straining. Just when he did, a fourth cord snaked out of the floor and grabbed his free hand, forcing it too into captivity.

Now face-down on the floor, Derek looked up, trying to find Sandor.

There! Still holding onto the core, the science officer was doing something with the strange red nexus. It looked like he was trying to…

"Hey, computer. You think tying me to the floor is going to stop me?"He challenged the A.I., trying to keep its attention away from Sandor.

"_Yes, Eratite."_ the thing replied. _"I'm sure it will. You do not have the power to resist me. None of you do. You do not possess the strength of a machine. There is nothing you can do now. But I must move on to your annoying friend – the one you're hoping I won't notice as he tried to override some of my programming."_

Derek's heart jumped into his throat. There wasn't anything more he could do for Sandor now.

Dark red cords writhed towards the science officer and grabbed all four of his limbs just before he finished what he was doing.

* * *

"Ah… ladies." Warden Bozen greeted the three women he'd appropriated from the new arrivals. "You are all here for various… reasons."

The large man paced back and forth across the large room they now occupied. It wasn't ornate by any measure of the word, and Elisa was sure that this wasn't Bozen's quarters. In the low light Elisa saw several places on the dull walls where lights could be mounted and lit. There were sparse furnishings: a few small tables and several chairs. Across the room there were two simple beds lined up along the wall. A few other items littered the area and there was a small door near the farthest bed – most likely leading to a bathing area.

"I know you want to know why you're here." Bozen stated, leering at one of the other two women.

The man let out a gravelly laugh when the woman shrank away from him.

"Oh, don't worry too much, little prisoner." He grabbed the woman's chin and pulled her towards him. Elisa cringed and looked away as she heard the sick sound of the hideous warden kissing the frightened woman.

Bozen's footsteps sounded in Elisa's ears as she heard him approach the second woman, the one standing next to her.

"I am not a cruel host – at least, not to those whom I choose to favor."

Elisa fought the urge to be sick as she heard the man force a kiss on the other woman as well.

Her heart felt like it would beat out of her chest. The thought of that churlish pig laying so much as a hand on her scared her more than anything she'd ever faced before.

Her eyes still closed, she heard Bozen step in front of her. Head down, she avoided looking at the warden. Maybe keeping her eyes shut would help.

Bozen grabbed her by the chin, just like the first woman, and jerked her face upward so he could see her.

Elisa braced herself for what she knew would come.

"Well, well…" Bozen muttered, "Councilor, why do you not look at me when I'm trying to speak with you?"

Elisa, surprised, opened her eyes.

"That's better." Bozen let go of her face. "When I read your name on the prisoner manifest, I knew I had to have you." He leered at Elisa. "You will be the perfect candidate to assist me in my dealings with some of the higher ranking Cometine prisoners here."

Elisa's guarded face faltered and her surprise shone through.

Bozen laughed. "You really thought I was foolish enough to try to claim the wife of the great General Lysis? He would kill me where I stand." The warden chuckled. "You will be taken to your own quarters." Bozen motioned for two guards to come and take Elisa, then he said to the men, "If either of you touch her, you'll never breathe again."

The men nodded solemnly and guided Elisa out of the dim room.

Soon she found herself in a halfway decent chamber, alone. She went over to the bed and fell onto it, weeping with the overwhelming relief that both she and her son or daughter were safe – for now.

* * *

"_Almost there."_ Sandor thought as he reached out to start the program he'd written to infiltrate the A.I. and turn off some of it security functions. He hadn't had time to write anything more elaborate than that. But just as he reached out to tell the device he'd brought to begin its work his hand was snatched out of the air by a thick garnet cord.

He moved to use his other hand, but it met the same fate as the first appendage. Then his feet were captured too, leaving him at the mercy of the A.I. and its sea of crimson servants.

"_You thought I wouldn't catch you in time?"_ the A.I. asked, sounding quite full of itself for a computer.

Sandor didn't say anything.

"_You think I'm stupid, foolish Eratite?"_ the computer continued, then lapsed into its own language again, letting out a string of curses upon Erats and her people.

"You may think I've underestimated you." Sandor began, then looked at the device still attached to the core. "But did you ever think that perhaps _you_ have underestimated _us_?"

The A.I. growled, _"Explain yourself."_

With one great yank Sandor tore his hand free of the bond that held it. He reached for his device and with one simple tap, the program was live.

"_How? What have you done, foolish man?"_ the A.I. bellowed, then said something that puzzled Derek as he lay on the other side of the room. _"Cyborg! You are not merely flesh and bone as your companion is! You tricked me into capturing you!"_

The cords hiding the door melted away, revealing the opening once again.

"_I will not be beaten so easily!"_ the computer screeched in anger.

Derek feared for their lives more now than he had mere moments before. What had she meant calling Sandor a "cyborg"? That didn't make sense at all.

But how had the science officer torn through his bonds the way he just had?

Derek tugged at the cords around his wrists and ankles again. He could barely budge them, much less rip them apart.

He looked on in amazement as the science officer ripped off the other cord holding his second hand with no more effort than it might take to rip a piece of paper in half.

The computer roared again, _"You have not won, fool! You have – merely – postponed – the…"_ the A.I.'s words trailed off and the red light that permeated the room grew dim.

"I'll get you out of those cords." Sandor said to Derek over the suit's comm. "But I need to make sure that the core had been shut down first. It'll only take a minute or two now that the security measures are off.."

Sandor reached out and tapped a few things into the device he'd used to silence that dreadful A.I.

"Done." The science officer announced detaching the gadget and putting it back into its pocket. "That magnetic field should be off now."

Derek watched as Sandor ripped off his two remaining bonds and made his way through the mess of the knotted, red room. Once at Derek's side, the XO ripped away the four cords that bound the young man.

"How…?" Derek asked, rubbing his wrists as he checked for damage to his suit.

"Not important now. I'll tell you later. We need to get out of here."

Suddenly another voice – this one different from the A.I.'s blared through their suit coms.

"What's it say, Sandor?" Derek asked.

"We have five minutes to get out of here before this thing blows." The XO replied, "Let's get out of here."

"Right behind you." Derek said without protest.

Sandor led the way back through the maze of tunnels they'd followed to get to the core. The way was dark now that the satellite's systems had been shut down and more than once Derek was afraid they wouldn't make it back out in time.

With twenty seconds to spare he and Sandor hastily boarded their plane and took off.

Derek jetted away from the satellite as fast as the plane could fly.

Behind them, the satellite lit up like a bonfire. In a flash, the grey mass was gone.

Derek started to breathe a sigh of relief, but was stopped short when he heard Sandor say from the back seat, "What on Earth is _that_?"

Derek turned the plane back around so he could see whatever the other man had.

His eyes got so big he thought they would pop out of their sockets.

"Whoa…" Wildstar breathed.

The sight that met the pair's eyes was like nothing else they'd ever seen before.

"I guess we know why that thing was sitting out here in the middle of nowhere…" Derek said, voice low in complete awe.

"It was hiding that." Sandor added, "Whatever that is."

Outside, near where the satellite once was, a thing of brilliant beauty stood, its great presence stretched from one end of their field of vision to the other. Its sheer size was more than Derek could take in all at once.

A web of blue light danced inside a gigantic diamond-shaped frame. In the center of that frame floated a dark circle. It almost looked like someone had shot the middle out of an enormous kite before laying it on its side.

"What _is_ that?" Derek asked.

"I don't know, Wildstar." Sandor replied, "Let's get back to the ship. We can find out more there. I managed to retrieve some of the data off of the satellite's mainframe before it was destroyed. Maybe that will shed some light on what that is and whether or not it's dangerous."

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Wildstar said, absently turning the plane around and heading back towards the ship at best speed.

* * *

"It's a gate." Sandor announced to the rest of the officers and Captain Avatar.

"Okay. A gate to what?" Derek asked.

"Another part of the galaxy." Sandor replied. "But it isn't operational yet."

"Wait, what?" Derek asked. "What do you mean 'yet'? You're not thinking of messing with that thing are you?"

Sandor was about to answer when the Captain held up a hand to silence them all. "We've lost a lot of time. If this gate proves to be a way we can make up that time, we need to consider it."

"But, Captain, how are we even going to get it working again?" Mark asked.

"Sandor is working on an answer to that question." The Captain replied, "We don't know much about the gate yet. We only know that it is old – quite old. At least a hundred years."

"Is it Gamilon?" Eager asked.

"No." Sandor answered. "It isn't. But obviously they knew about it and valued it, or they wouldn't have hidden it behind a trap as deadly as the one we've just escaped."

"I don't know about this, Sandor." Eager said again, "Somethin' isn't right here."

Sandor looked at every officer in turn, "I don't know what lies on the other side of that gate, or even if I'll be able to get it back online, but one thing I do know. We haven't come this far by wasting an opportunity like this. I'll not endanger the lives of any of you, but I have to know if this is something we can use."

The men and women in the operations room looked back at their executive officer and nodded in understanding.

"Okay." Derek said on behalf of the entire group, "Let's see what this thing is."

Sandor nodded back at Wildstar in thanks for his support.

"I'll send all of you the information I have on this gate. Let me know what you find."

The group all nodded and left, all except Wildstar who waited until everyone except Sandor had gone.

"So, you gonna tell me how you managed to rip yourself out of your ropes back there? Those cords were too thick for even _me_ to get out of. No disrespect intended, but you're not exactly the athletic type." Wildstar said.

Sandor smiled sadly, "There are some things in life that we don't understand when they happen, Wildstar." The science officer said, pulling off the grey, open-backed gloves that were part of his uniform. He rolled up one of his sleeves and held out a bare arm towards Derek. "Your brother knew, so it's only right you do too."

Derek stepped closer to the science officer, puzzled. "Knew what?"

Sandor gently pushed on the underside of his forearm with two fingers. A tiny plate popped up out of the man's arm.

Derek jumped, startled. "What's that?" he pointed at the protrusion, "That's just some kind of implant, right?"

"No, Wildstar." Sandor held out his arm for Derek to see.

"What's with all the wires and metal parts?" the young man asked, looking into the hole the opened plate revealed.

"That's my arm." Sandor replied simply, "As children my sister and I were in an… accident. She was fine, but I wasn't. The accident crushed my arms and legs. As a result, they were replaced… with bionic limbs."

"So _that's_ what that computer meant when she called you a cyborg!" Derek exclaimed, finally understanding some of the odd things he'd seen the science officer do without explanation.

Sandor pushed the plate back down into his arm and rolled down his sleeve. "Yes. Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't notice sooner."

"Well, you have to admit I did a pretty good job of distracting her." Derek said.

Sandor chuckled, "I suppose you did at that."

The two officers left the operations room and headed back towards the bridge.


	55. Episode 53: The Aquarius Gate

**Episode 53: The Aquarius Gate**

"They've destroyed the shield unit." Haini reported to Frakken. "They managed to get to the satellite and rig it to explode. Once it was gone, the subspace field hiding the inactive gate collapsed."

"So they know it's there." Frakken said thoughtfully, more to himself than to Haini, then he looked at his second in command and said, "Converge on their position, but tell all ships to remain in subspace. We'll just watch them for now."

"Aye, Captain." Haini relayed the message to the rest of the fleet then looked back at Frakken. "So what's the plan? We gonna wait and see if they can figure out that old gate? Will they even know what it is?"

"I don't know." Wolf replied, "But as soon as we underestimate them, we'll regret it. We've already seen what they can do with a little ingenuity and some luck. They've come this far on it. What's to stop them from making it all the way to Gamilon?"

"The General's forces aren't a thing to be trifled with, Frakken." Haini chided, "I'm sure he'll stop them if it comes to that."

Wolf stared off into a dark corner of the bridge. "I hope it doesn't come to that. Balan is the last line of defense we have against them. If they get through that…"

"If they get through that, then the Ze'evim will hunt them down and stop them." Haini said emphatically. "Besides all we have to worry about right now is sneaking that Iscandarian princess off of the Eratite ship."

"Ha!" Frakken scoffed, "You think this will be easy, do you? Haini, these Eratites have come through assault after assault. Why do you think it will be easy to take someone – who is likely well-guarded – right out from under their noses?"

"Because we can do it when they're not watching." Haini offered, his tone turning clandestine.

Frakken looked at the man strangely. "They already have no way of seeing us."

"They won't be able to see our _ships_." Haini corrected, "But if we board that ship while nothing's going on, we're sure to be seen."

"You mean we should wait until something else happens that will force the crew to focus their attention elsewhere." Wolf replied, understanding the other man's point.

"Uh huh." Haini nodded, "And just like that, we'll have our princess. I guarantee you."

"Have all ships stay on high alert. We're warping to the inactive gate." Frakken said, a glint of anticipation on his eyes. He could almost smell the coming hunt. It would be a refreshing change to be the one out on the front lines stalking the enemy again. It had been much too long since he'd been able to do that.

"Warp preparations complete." One of the officers announced.

Frakken nodded to the crewman, then ordered, "All ships, warp."

* * *

"Hey, watch it!" Derek exclaimed as Nova bumped into him. "Just because there's zero gravity out here doesn't mean you can crash into everything."

Nova sighed into the suit's mic. "I've never used the motion controls on one of these things, okay."

"Wildstar, give me some light over here." Sandor called the younger man over to where he was.

The three had been assigned to go out and investigate the gate floating just beyond the wreckage of the destroyed satellite. Wildstar hadn't particularly relished the thought of going, but when Nova volunteered, he changed his mind.

Now they were all tethered to a scout ship, situated several yards from a curious pod. The thing was floating several hundred yards off to the side of the gate's center, probably so that it wouldn't be sucked into the gate when it was open and active. Around the pod strange metallic designs snaked into space, circling the thing, then shooting out to attach to the main diamond anchor surrounding the entire gate.

"Alright. Coming." Derek called to the science officer before shooting over to the other man and holding his head so that his suit's lamp was shining directly on some kind of control panel mounted on the outside of the floating pod.

"What _is_ this thing?" Nova asked, finally making it over to the two men.

"I think it's the power control center." Sandor said. "It's just a theory, but, do you see how the surface has a pattern on it?"

"Oh, yeah! It looks like a circuit board." Derek exclaimed.

"Right." Sandor nodded, turning his concentration back to what he was doing. "There." He finally said, adjusting something on the control panel that Derek couldn't identify.

The front of the pod disappeared.

"Whoa! Hey, you sure this thing is safe?" Derek asked when Sandor detached his tether and floated right into the new opening.

"No." Sandor replied over the comm, "But we won't know anything about it if we sit outside."

Nova, now also tetherless, bumped Derek again as she floated past him into the pod, following Sandor.

Derek groaned and undid his own connection to their ship, _"Great, _another_ dark, alien building – satellite – whatever."_

"Keep up." Nova called back to him.

"Coming." He replied, just as reluctant to lose his crewmates as he was to enter the pod. He floated just outside the opening for another three seconds before taking a deep breath and sending his suit slowly flying into the pod's entrance.

It was dark inside. Derek looked one way, then the other, trying to see what was around him.

He was just about to turn his headlamp's brightness up when light exploded around him. It was so bright that his helmet turned black for five seconds before fading away again.

Just as quickly as it had come, the light was gone.

Derek's vision adjusted enough to see into the dim darkness and he turned to look at the door they'd opened. To his horror, the opening was gone, replaced by a solid wall.

"Uh… guys…" Derek said, "I think we're locked in here."

"Nonsense, Wildstar." Sandor replied, "There's another control panel on the inside of the door. I saw it coming in."

"Oh…" Derek replied, then looked to the left of where the door should have been. There was the control panel, just like Sandor said. _"Great, I'm starting to sound like Royster."_ He chided himself before continuing onward, trying to catch up to Nova and Sandor.

As he went he looked at everything he passed. The walls were grey and pocketed, laced everywhere with threadlike brilliant blue strands. It was like walking through one of the bioluminescent caves back on earth.

"Wildstar, there's a launchpad up ahead. Miss Forrester and I are waiting for you there." Sandor's voice crackled over the radio.

"Roger that." Derek replied and pushed his suit to go just a little faster as he realized how far behind he'd fallen.

Soon he landed right beside Nova.

"Sandor, what're you doing?" Derek asked, a bit alarmed when he saw the science officer rummaging inside an old Gamilon fighter sitting nearby.

"This could be useful." Sandor said simply, standing up in the small plane's cockpit and looking back down at the two younger crewmen. "It needs some work, so we'll have to tow it out later." With that, the XO exited the old plane and joined Derek and Nova once again.

Derek looked up ahead and saw an ominously dark open doorway looming before them.

He steeled himself and followed Sandor as the other man started towards the strange door.

Derek waited and waited for some kind of alarm to go off, or a sentry to appear and open fire on them. But nothing happened.

A few minutes later they came to a fork in the path they'd been following. The low light made it hard for any of them to tell if there were markings beside or above any of the five openings, so all of them turned up their headlamps just long enough to see that none of the doors were marked in any way.

Derek rolled his eyes, and huffed his irritation into the comm. "Why can't we catch a break just once?"

"I think we just did." Nova replied, pointing to something lying just inside one of the doors.

"What _is_ that?" Derek asked, pointing his headlamp at whatever it was. "Wait, that looks like one of the guards from the satellite Sandor disabled."

"It does indeed." The XO agreed, coming over to look at Nova's find. "It looks like it's been offline for some time though. Hopefully any other sentries the Gamilons left will be in the same condition."

"But if they went to all the trouble of hiding this gate, why would they let their guards fall into disrepair?" Nova asked.

"Don't know." Derek said, "Don't care. Let's just get in here, fix this thing – if we can – and get back out."

"As much as I disagree with that attitude," Sandor put in, "I do agree that we must press on – and quickly. If another sentry is here, they may appear without warning. Turn off your lamps. From here on, we go by whatever light is already available. And don't do anything that would make more sound than necessary."

Nova nodded quickly in response, her encounter with the monster-cats on Bemera still fresh in her mind.

Derek reluctantly agreed to keep his light off. He hated trekking through the dark. He wasn't afraid of it, but he wasn't thrilled at the possibility of walking blindly through a den of vipers either.

"This way." Sandor said, stepping over the downed sentry.

Sandor was followed by Nova, and Derek took up the rear, looking over his shoulder every few minutes to make sure nothing was following them. He had the oddest feeling that someone was watching them. Every step he took he could feel the hair on the back of his beck standing up and electricity running down his back. No matter how many times he checked behind them, he couldn't shake the feeling and it made him quite nervous.

* * *

"Captain, the video feed from our operative inside the gate control center is live." The officer informed the captain of the dark ship.

"Put it on screen." The captain ordered.

"Yes, Sir." Came the reply.

Immediately the video started streaming on main bridge screen.

The captain looked up, watching as three Eratites stepped over the remains of what was recently a perfectly functional robot guard. He'd ordered his operative to take down any sentries inside the control center to make way for the Eratites to get through unhindered. Thus far, it looked like the operative had done his job.

The Captain watched closely as the Eratites traveled through corridor after corridor, following a trail of broken metal bodies until they came to the core of the control center.

One of the Eratites – it looked to be the oldest of the three – stopped the group and started forward on his own. The Eratite – man or woman, the Captain couldn't tell from this distance – leaned down and examined the panel that would allow access into the center's core area.

"Tell him to get closer." The captain ordered his second in command.

The man did as his captain said and told the operative to move closer to the Eratites.

* * *

"What was that?" Derek asked, catching a bit of movement just out of the corner of his eye.

"What was what?" Nova asked, her gaze fixed on Sandor and what he was doing.

"You didn't see that shadow move over there?" Wildstar pointed to something on the other side of the corridor.

"No." Nova replied, "It was probably just a trick of the light. There isn't much in here to see by after all."

"Miss Forrester, your lamp, please." Sandor motioned for Nova to come.

The young woman obeyed and walked over to the science officer, shedding light on the panel he was working on.

A moment later, the door before them hissed open.

"We're in." Sandor announced before heading through the now-open door, Nova right behind him.

Derek shot another glance over to where he'd seen the flicker of movement, then followed Sandor and Nova.

This new room was small in comparison to some of the areas they'd passed through to get here. There was a narrow bridge over what looked like a shallow pool of water. At the other end of the bridge an alien-looking interface jutted up out of the floor.

Wildstar followed his crewmates up to the strange thing and watched as Sandor and Nova both started examining it.

Sandor plugged his handheld into the interface.

"This is exactly what we were looking for." Sandor said. "It tells me everything I need to know."

He touched interface screen several times, examined his handheld and looked back at Derek. "I think I know how to get this gate back online."

"'Back'? I thought it was broken." Derek said.

"No, not broken, just dormant apparently." Sandor replied, looking back down at the alien interface. "It needs to be restarted. According to the logs, this gate has been offline for over two hundred years."

"This has been out here for two hundred years?!" Derek exclaimed. "Who made it?"

"I don't know, Wildstar." Sandor replied, "But I've copied the gate's entire log history. We'll look into it when we get back to the ship." Sandor tapped something into his handheld. "I'm about to restart the system."

Derek nodded, and looked around warily, not sure what to expect.

Sandor triggered the reboot command.

A strange-sounding A.I. made some sort of announcement.

"What'd it say, Sandor?" Derek asked.

"It said there's going to be a neutron emission in ten seconds." Sandor replied, motioning for the two crewmen to follow him. "We need to leave. Quickly. A neutron blast will kill us."

Derek and Nova moved to follow, but just as Sandor reached the door, it slammed shut, trapping them all inside.

* * *

"_Warning. Reboot protocol activated. Neutron venting imminent. Please use the designated – "_

Static replaced the video feed onboard the dark ship and the Captain let out a loud curse. "Get the feed back!" He ordered.

"We can't sir, too much interference from the gate reboot." An officer replied.

The captain cursed again, his eyes fixed on the grey snow covering the video panel.

* * *

The Iscandari queen sat quietly on the glass bench near the power crystal, holding out her hand to Alex. She winced as the Eratite treated her burns.

"What were you doing down here anyway?" Adam asked as he handed his friend a bandage.

"The ship –I sent it power." She replied.

Adam looked at her, puzzled.

"The Eratite ship's power was drained by something neither I, nor my Interface system could identify, but whatever it was, the situation was dire enough for the engine core to send me a distress signal."

"You can see when they're in trouble?" Adam asked.

"She can." Alex said, now finished wrapping Starsha's hand. "Before you woke up, there were a couple of… incidents."

Adam looked at Alex this time. "You didn't tell me about those."

"Sorry." Alex said, "I didn't know if you'd recovered enough to be told about some of the stuff your father and his crew have been through."

"Wait, my _father's_ on that ship?" Adam asked, dumbfounded.

"He is." Starsha said, "And he is a fine leader for his crew."

"My brother's on board too." Alex put in, "And Sandor."

"Stephen's there?" Adam said, his face brightening with each new name Alex said. "I haven't seen him since the Academy, and I haven't seen your little brother in longer than that."

"They're not here yet." Alex said.

Starsha nodded solemnly, "Indeed. It will still be some time before their arrival." She stood, examined her bandaged hand and said, "Thank you, Alex." She sighed, "I must get some rest."

With that, the queen left the two men alone.

A companionable silence fell between the friends, charged with excitement at the coming of the Earth ship.

"She's interesting, don't you think?" Alex asked.

"I suppose so." Adam replied absently as he walked up to the giant crystal in the center of the room. The prospect of seeing his father again filled him with joy. He never thought he would see anyone else he knew ever again. Now that that possibility was before him, he was elated.

"I…" Alex began, a sad expression taking over his face, "I… care about her."

"I care what happens to her too. She saved our lives. We owe her a lot." Adam replied as he walked around the room, looking at the beautiful glass and crystal constructs scattered around the area.

"No Adam. Not like that. I mean… I love her." Alex said.

Adam didn't reply. There was a long silence and Alex was starting to think Adam hadn't heard him. He was about to repeat himself when he heard footsteps, then felt Adam's hand on his shoulder. "I don't think that's gonna work, Alex."

Alex nodded, "She said as much."

"You told her?" Adam asked.

"Yeah." Alex nodded, "She said… there was someone else. At first I thought she might mean you."

Adam laughed good-naturedly, "I don't think that would work either."

"But who could there be? There isn't anyone else here."

"Maybe he isn't on Iscandar." Adam offered.

"I guess that's possible." Alex said, "But whoever he is, I hope he appreciates her like I do."

* * *

Starsha stepped into her quarters, weary beyond words from the ordeal she'd just been through.

"Mistress?"Adrianna's light voice floated to the young queen, "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Starsha replied, trudging slowly through the living area and into her bedroom. She sat down on the bed, fighting the urge to lie down and fall into blissful oblivion.

She looked up.

Green and gold filled her vision as Gamilon appeared above the Palace of Iscandar.

The sight overwhelmed the Iscandari and tears welled up in her eyes.

"_Stop this madness…"_ She pleaded silently, _"Stop trying to destroy the ones sent to bring this deliverance to Erats, Desslok."_

She looked away, a wave of sadness washing over her. _"If only you would understand…"_ she turned her eyes back to Gamilon, her gaze resting on the very spot where she knew Belarus lay beneath the crust of the dying world. _"You could make this right… You could save Erats – undo what your brother began and you continued…Your soul is filled with the darkness of Abaddon, dear friend… But that darkness will never be too deep for Yahweh's light to dispel."_

As the tears ran down her cheeks, she opened her mouth say the one thing she wished she could say to the face of the man who had forged his way through the ranks of a usurper-king to bring her aid in her time of need.

"I… love you, my friend. And I hope that, one day, you will know that, and in that day, may you also know the Truth of Yahweh. May your benighted heart find the Light of Shaddai."


	56. Episode 54: Afraid of the Dark

**Episode 54: Afraid of the Dark**

Derek felt something grab onto his arm and drag him off the walkway. He struggled, flinging his free arm at whatever had him.

He lost his footing, and the grip on his arm suddenly disappeared.

Everything spun around him. Then he hit something. Water?

The murky liquid enveloped him.

"Sandor? Nova?" Derek tried raising his crewmates on the comm.

No one answered.

"Guys?!" He tried again. When no one answered his second call, cold fear started oozing over him. Everything was dark and cloudy. The lack of light in the chamber above – or was it below – him did nothing to help him see farther than a few inches in front of his helmet's face.

Derek looked around frantically, trying to see something other than blue-black, hazy water.

He turned on his head lamp, but all that accomplished was blinding him while his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden brightness. The lamp did nothing to cut through the murk around him, so he turned it back off.

The dread rising in his gut threatened to turn to all-out panic as he tried to figure out which way was up.

He turned his helmet every way he could. Finally, he saw something that he thought might be the light of the control panel above them on the walkway he'd fallen off of.

He tried to head that direction, but he felt the sharp tug of something wound around his ankle. It pulled him down, holding him under the water. He kicked and kicked, trying to free himself, but no matter how hard he pulled against whatever had him, he couldn't get away.

He tried to reorient himself so he could see what was holding onto his leg, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a good look at it.

"Hey!" he called out through the comm, "I'm stuck down here. Where are you two?"

Still no response came.

If he couldn't get ahold of Sandor or Nova… they wouldn't know he was down here. And what had happened when the reboot cycle started up? Were Nova and Sandor okay out there with that neutron blast?

"_You two had better be alive."_ He thought, trying to take his mind off of his own predicament and failing.

Derek kicked at his captor again, but still couldn't escape its grasp. "Alright, fine!" he exclaimed, fed up with being stuck in this dark pool. He reached into his holster and pulled out his astro-automatic. Pointing it down into the water, he let fly a volley of bolts near where he knew his suited foot was.

Just then the com burst back to life with an exclamation of "Something's shooting at me!"

"Sandor?" Derek asked, recognizing the voice. "Are _you_ holding onto my leg?"

"Yes, Wildstar!" the science officer replied, "Now put up your gun before you hit me."

"Why are you holding me under?"

"Neutrons don't travel well through water. We need to stay down here until the reboot is finished." Sandor replied.

"How long with that be?"

"The computer said the reboot would take about five minutes. It's been four." The science officer replied.

"Where's Nova?" Derek asked, suddenly very aware of her absence on the comm. "Nova?" he called out to her, the dread he'd felt before now rolling back over him again. _"Where are you?"_

"Oh…" a low moan came over the comm. "Ouch… I think I hit my head on the side of my helmet…"

Derek breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Nova's voice.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked the woman.

"Yeah. Just kinda – oh I'm going to have a headache by the time we get back to the ship." She replied, then asked, "What's my foot stuck on? I can't swim back up to the walkway."

"I have you." Sandor said, "It's the only way for all of us to stay underwater until the reboot's done."

"I don't understand." Nova replied.

"_She doesn't know." _ Derek thought, then to Sandor he said, "You want to tell her?"

"I'll explain later, Miss Forrester. But I'll need both of your help to get back up to the walkway. The reboot cycle is almost over. Another twenty seconds should do it. Then we can go back up and see if it worked."

Derek silently counted to twenty. Just as he got to "nineteen" a brilliant flash of white light exploded above him, lighting up even the murky water. His helmet visor went black for a full five-count before fading again.

"Did you see that?" Derek asked, pointing up towards where the flash had come from even though he knew that neither of his companions could see him pointing.

"Who didn't?" Nova asked. "You think it's safe to go back up, Sandor?"

"Should be." The XO replied, "I'm letting go of the railing I'm attached to down here. Both of you should be able to swim back up to the surface now. Hopefully the two of you combined can pull me back out."

"But why –" Nova began.

"You'll understand soon enough, Miss Forrester." Sandor interrupted.

Without another word Derek and Nova did their best to pull Sandor with them back up to the walkway.

Once the two surfaced, they reached down and pulled Sandor up too.

"You're heavier than you look." Nova grunted as she helped Derek pull the science officer up out of the water and onto the walkway.

"I'm sure." Sandor replied wryly.

"Whew! Glad that's over." Derek said once they were all safely standing on firm ground again. "Did restarting this thing work?"

"We won't know for sure until we get back outside. If it worked, it should be abundantly clear." Sandor replied, "Now to get this door back open." He stepped up to the door that had barred their exit just before the reboot cycle started.

The science officer tapped a few things into a control panel and the door opened again, allowing them to leave.

Sandor, water still dripping off of his EVA suit, led the way out, followed by Nova, then Derek. Just before Wildstar stepped out of the small control room something caught his eye. A glint of metal sparkled a few feet away.

"_What's that?"_ He stepped towards whatever it was.

There, on the ground lay a small silver disc.

Derek reached out and picked it up. He was just about to examine the object when he noticed Sandor and Nova hadn't stopped to wait for him. Deciding he would look at it later, he stuffed the disc into a pocket on his suit without looking at it too much.

* * *

"Status!" the captain of the dark ship bellowed to his men. "Get that video feed back now!"

"Yes, sir." The communications officer replied, trying in vain to raise the operative they'd sent into the gate control center. He tried and tried, but no matter what he did, he couldn't get anything on the screen. He couldn't connect to anything the operative was carrying or wearing.

Whatever the man had run into, it had fried all of his communications equipment, and probably everything else he had with him.

The officer looked down at his station as a new set of data appeared.

"Captain…" he said.

"What is it? Why can't we raise him?"

"Sensors are showing extremely high levels of neutron activity."

"Your point?" the captain asked, annoyed.

"Sir, nothing could have survived that high of a concentration of neutrons for that long. Our operative…" the officer paused, not sure how to say what he had to. Then he forged on, "Our operative most likely did not survive."

"Are the Eratites still alive?" the Captain asked.

"They disappeared off the sensors for a while, Sir, but they've reappeared again." Another officer replied.

The Captain's eyes narrowed. "Keep a watch on them. Make sure they make it back to their ship."

An alarm screeched, ripping into the moment and sending several crewmen's hands flying to cover their offended ears.

"Report!" the Captain barked.

"Sir, warp signatures nearby – at least a dozen of them." The radar officer replied.

"Identify!" the Captain ordered.

"They're –" the radar officer started to say, then stopped, confused, "They're gone." The alarm quieted instantly.

"This is troubling." the Captain hissed to his second-in-command. "We don't need any more setbacks than we've already had."

"Of course, Captain." The XO replied, "I'll have men assigned to investigate this anomaly."

"No." the Captain stopped the executive officer, "Send no one out there." The Captain's eyes narrowed again as he looked out into the void stretching out all around his ship. "I may know what this is…"

"What, Captain?" the XO asked, voice low.

"Something more dangerous than we bargained for." The Captain replied, "Something that, once loosed, won't stop the hunt for anything…"

The XO looked at the Captain in horror and whispered, "Wolves…"

"Yes." The Captain hissed, "Get us out of here. The Eratite ship will have to fend for herself this time. I value my vengeance, but I value my life more."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

"That's really something." Derek breathed, looking out the cockpit window at the magnificent sight now laid out before them all. "So that's what these gates are supposed to look like."

"I don't like this." Nova said, sounding a bit nervous. "Something's off about it."

"I agree." Sandor said, "It's like…" his voice trailed off.

"It's like the engine room…" Nova whispered, and, had she not been talking into the comm system, neither Sandor nor Wildstar would have heard her.

Neither man answered. Derek thought it better not to say anything, so he turned the plane around and flew it back to the ship.

* * *

"Captain, I don't know what we've found, but… I can't say I'm comfortable using it now. There's something very wrong about this gate." Sandor sat across from Avatar in the captain's cabin.

Avatar nodded slowly. "I understand." He looked out at the gate looming before the ship. "I sense it too…" the old man looked away from the gate, now glowing with blue-white light. The black hole in the center of the gate gave both men a feeling of unease every time they looked at it. "But…" he began, looking at his XO, "What other options do we have?"

Sandor nodded, even more slowly than Avatar had, "I know. Starsha's map takes us straight through here. If only we could ask her about this gate. Perhaps she would know more about it."

"But we don't have that luxury." Avatar said soberly. "We have to decide if this is a risk worth taking. And if it is, then how are we to go about it?"

Sandor thought for a moment, then an idea came to him. "Captain, I'll go through it first."

"No." Avatar said simply. "Your limbs need repair."

Sandor grimaced as his left leg suddenly went limp, then stiffened, followed by his left arm doing the same thing. "I can repair the shorts in my leg and arm, Captain. After that, I can go."

"I said, no." the captain repeated. "I can't have you out there in this condition. Someone else can go."

"Who would you suggest?" Sandor grudgingly accepted his fate.

"Our combat chief should do." Avatar replied.

"But Wildstar's been out with me for hours already. This will be too much for him, Captain. He hasn't slept in two days."

"And you haven't slept in four." The captain replied, giving his younger friend a pointed look.

The science officer looked at the floor, avoiding the captain's eyes. "True…" he mumbled. "But it was… necessary."

"And it's necessary now for you to stay here onboard ship. Wildstar can take care of himself. He's made that abundantly clear." Avatar said.

"Yes… Captain. I just –" Sandor stopped, casting a glance over at the foreboding gate.

"What is it, my friend?"

"I just don't want him to get into something he's not equipped to get out of." Sandor replied quietly.

Avatar nodded, "I know. That's why Miss Forrester is going with him."

Sandor sighed in relief, "Good. Very good."

* * *

"You ready back there?" Derek called back to Nova who was just getting strapped into the back of the plane.

"Ready." She replied.

Derek did yet another quick pre-flight check, then got his confirmation to take off.

The plane followed its autopilot as it sailed out of the hangar bay then switched to manual piloting once it cleared the _Argo_.

"Here goes nothing." Derek said, pointing the plane towards the gigantic glowing spectre hanging in space before them.

"How do we know we'll be able to get through the gate at all?" Nova asked hesitantly.

"Sandor says it's open. He got some kind of signal from the other side of this crazy thing." Derek replied. "We'll be there soon. You ready to do this?"

Nova swallowed hard. The closer they came to the gate, the more uneasy she became. The feeling of dread that rose in her when the crew had been in comas came back.

"_Get us through, God. Please, get us through."_ She prayed, then took a deep breath and answered Wildstar, "Yeah. Let's go."

Derek pushed the plane onward, zooming towards the black maw that opened wide to receive them into the gate. Just before they hit the threshold, Nova heard something odd. She had never heard a voice like this before. It wasn't like the voices she'd heard in the engine room when those dark spirits had taken it over.

No, this voice was something entirely different. It was like the sounding of a horn, full and clear – like a blue sky after summer rain.

"_A land of darkness, as darkness itself;"_ the voice began.

Nova stared out at the gate whose event horizon drew ever closer.

"_and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness."_ The voice continued.

Nova didn't know what to think - this wonderful voice telling her such dreary things. Then it continued.

"_He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to the light the shadow of death. He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light."_

With those words, Nova felt her courage return. She remembered that dark day when she and her crewmates had faced down that demon horde, and now she would go through this gate. There was something horrible on the other side of it – she could sense that much, but whatever it was, God would bring them to the other side. That she knew with a certainty.

Nova squeezed her eyes shut.

They hit the event horizon.

* * *

"What're they doing?" Haini asked, watching the video feed from the sensors on a small screen he held out for Frakken to see too.

"Testing the gate it looks like." Wolf replied soberly.

"Well, you were right about not underestimating them." Haini said, "They got this old gate up and running in a few hours. We couldn't have done much better ourselves."

"But how did they get past the posted guards?" Frakken asked, lowering his voice so that only Haini could hear him. "Something isn't right."

"Warp signature to port." The radar operator said, pulling Frakken and Haini back into the moment.

"Identify." Frakken ordered.

"Unknown, Sir." The crewman replied. "No known class of vessel matches these readings. It could just be a sensor echo off of one of our own late arrivals."

"Let's hope that's all it is." Frakken muttered. "What was its vector?"

"Out towards Eratite space, Captain." The crewman replied.

Frakken eyes narrowed, "Keep a watch for it again. Whatever it was, it had better not interfere with our efforts."

"Aye, Sir." Came the reply.

Frakken turned back to Haini and continued in a low voice, "Something else is out there. I can almost smell it."

"Ah, the Wolf of Subspace has caught a trail." Haini joked.

"But it isn't a trail we can follow right now." Frakken growled, a cold dread tugging at his mind. "If the Eratite ship goes through the gate, we have to follow them, no matter what else may be out here."

"Of course, Frakken." Haini replied, "You seem to have grown more suspicious since the Usurper was dethroned."

"Who can help but be suspicious? I've seen what happens when people forget to be wary. The price…" Frakken's voice trailed off as he remembered all the lives lost during the war against the Usurper, "The price is too high."

"Well, we're all with you, Frakken. Every man on this ship – and the others – would follow you through Gehenna itself if you asked them to."

"I know." Frakken said. "I just hope their trust is not misplaced."

* * *

The instant the plane crossed over the threshold of the gate, Derek knew something was wrong. His cockpit was instantly crawling with snakes of all shapes and sizes. He fought the urge to scream and stomp on the things. Everywhere he looked, there were scales and forked tongues slipping in and out of snake mouths.

He shuddered and closed his eyes so tightly that he saw white streaks. A second later he opened them again.

The snakes were gone.

He sighed in relief.

"_I've gotta get more sleep when we get back."_ He thought, _"Now I'm seeing things."_ He rubbed his tired eyes wearily. "You good back there?" he called back to Nova.

"I'm fine." She replied thinly. "You?"

"Just ready to be done with this." He replied, "Maybe it won't take long to get to the other s –"

"_It is time."_ A foul voice wrapped around Derek's mind, interrupting him and whispering words of the most gruesome deaths Wildstar had ever heard of. Then it hissed, _"You are here in my domain, _man_. It is time you learned what the host of darkness can do."_

Derek's eyes widened and he looked around frantically for the source of the voice, his conversation with Nova completely forgotten.

"Derek, what's wrong?" Nova asked.

Wildstar tried to answer her, but just when he opened his mouth to speak a hideous face appeared right in front of him. Gnarled hands reached up and took him by the helmet. _"No one can save you this time, foolish one. This time, you are _mine._"_

Fingers, old and withered, reached up to touch his forehead. They passed through his helmet. The instant they touched his skin, Derek felt like his face was on fire.

Half an instant later, Nova was deafened by a tortured scream.


	57. Episode 55: Camp of the Enemy

**Episode 55: Camp of the Enemy**

"Derek? Derek! What's going on up there?!" Nova exclaimed as her crewmate's scream of agony tore through her ears.

Not knowing what else to do, Nova reached forward and grabbed the young man by the shoulders.

"Derek! What's going on?" she tried again to no avail.

"_What's happening to him?"_ She thought, worry beginning to creep into her mind and undermine her earlier confidence.

"_I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory."_

That voice again.

Nova looked around, eyes searching for the elusive voice.

"Who are you?" She asked, over her friend's expressions of great pain and fear.

"_He is not of Israel, fool!"_ Said another voice, but this one was foul and rotten, like the smell of a fetid carcass – much like the voices she'd heard in the darkness of the engine room so recently.

"_Perhaps not, but you have sought to force his hand – to make him decide in your favor."_ The wonderful voice said to the terrible one.

"_But you have broken your agreement with your Mater. _You_ have _shown_ yourself!"_ The awful voice accused.

The majestic voice replied with a hearty laugh, _"I have appeared to no one. I have merely spoken, foul one. I have done as Shaddai has told me. I have hindered you."_

The dreadful voice let out a shriek of displeasure and pain.

Wildstar fell silent.

"Derek? Derek?!" Nova shook Wildstar's shoulder. She felt his head slump forward. "Wake up!" she exclaimed.

Derek didn't even so much as stir.

Nova looked around the back seat, trying to find something that could help their situation. As she searched she prayed, remembering the words she'd heard just before they'd entered this strange new world within the gate.

"_There!"_ Nova reached out and triggered the emergency override. A second later the back of the pilot's seat unfolded in front of her and two panels, one to her right and one to her left transformed revealing a rough replica of the controls Derek was now unable to use.

She craned her neck to get a glimpse of whatever was outside the plane.

"_He has gone, daughter of the promise."_ The wonderful voice spoke again, taking Nova's focus from what she was doing.

"Who – who are you?" she asked again, more quietly this time. "And who was the one with you?"

"_I am…a friend."_ It replied, _"The other is not. He seeks to destroy you all before you fulfill the mission upon which you embarked some months ago."_

"Do you have a name?" Nova attempted again.

The voice laughed, seeming amused, _"I do, daughter of the promise. But for you to know it now would serve no purpose. One day though, we will meet face to face. _Then_ you will know my name."_

"Are you an angel?" She asked, eyes wide.

"_That is what you call us, yes."_ The voice replied. _"Though… few of you truly know what we look like or how we go about the business of Shaddai."_

"'Shaddai'?" Nova asked. She thought the name sounded familiar.

"_You often address Him as 'God.'"_ The angel replied.

Nova didn't reply. Feelings of utter inadequacy fell over her.

"_You need not fear, child of Shaddai. I am merely the messenger of the Most High, not His sword of vengeance – at least, not today."_ The smile in the being's voice was evident and Nova relaxed just a bit, then the worry of moments before crowded back into her small world.

"What do I do about Derek? What did that thing do to him? I can't seem to wake him up."

"_Fear not."_ The angel replied, _"He will wake on the other side of the gate."_

"But what will we do when we come back through here? Won't that other thing – that… demon…be back?" Nova asked, scanning the controls around her. Finding the auto pilot, she reinitialized it.

"_Ah…" _The angel sighed. _"I know you have met the enemy before, child of the One. I saw you as you led the advance on them, the words of long dead saints on your lips and the song of Shaddai in your heart. I will see to it that no harm comes to you. You are one of the children of my great Master, little one. He fears no fallen angel, nor does He worry Himself over the plans of the Darkened Seraph*."_

"No… I suppose He doesn't." Nova said thoughtfully, a tiny smile appearing on her face.

"_I will see you safely to the other side of this nether-gate. Once you are out, you must take great care. Many dangers await you on the other side."_

"Thank… you…" Nova managed, then asked, "What should I call you?"

No answer came.

"Hello?" she called out to the angel. "Hello?"

He was gone.

* * *

_Derek felt like he was floating through an immense void. Everywhere he looked there was only blackness – deep, dark and hopeless. _

_He reached out, trying to find something to grab on to that might anchor him in this strange place. _

_What seemed like hours later he was just about to give up trying when a glint of something caught his eye. He reached out and caught it. To his dismay it was nothing more than a small piece of metal. He held the object out in front of him to examine it._

_The metal began to glow in his hand. Crimson light pulsed bright, then dim over and over. _

_Derek watched this puzzled. _

_The glow started to intensify, swelling to a height of brightness that blinded Derek with each brilliant flash._

_He flung the thing away, the red light overwhelming his sense so much that he couldn't take it anymore. He covered his eyes with his free hand, trying to ward off the light._

_The flashing stopped._

_He hesitantly pulled his hand away from his eyes, expecting to see the glint of metal floating away. He looked around, but didn't see the object anywhere. _

_The sensation of something squeezing his arm grabbed his attention and he looked down at the hand that had been holding the object. To his horror, the metal piece was now wrapped around his forearm, glowing blood red._

_Derek frantically swiped at the thing, trying to get it off._

_He felt his arm become uncomfortably warm, then the sizzle of burning fabric met his ears and the pain of searing flesh slashed through his brain. Burning pain shot through his arm._

_He cried out in agony, grasping at the metal again, trying once more to pry it from his wounded arm, but no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't rip it free._

_He screamed in pain as the metal piece grew, crawling up his arm, burning away his uniform sleeve and charring his skin as it went._

_He was tearing at the burning metal again when another crimson bar flew out of the surrounding darkness and clamped on to his other arm, bringing more pain with it._

_Sheer agony stopped him from struggling against his new bonds and had he not been in zero gravity he would have fallen to the floor._

_Despair riddled the young man's mind as he tried over and over to find a way out… and failed._

_Two more glowing bonds streaked towards him and caught hold of his legs, turning what little bit of his mind he still had left into a burning prison of pain._

"You have overstepped."_ A mighty voice thundered across the void._

_Derek heard the words, but couldn't concentrate on them long enough to know if the voice was talking to _him_._

"If you do not release him, I will." _The voice came again._

"You have no authority to interfere. This is not one of your Master's _precious children._" _Another voice, scraggly and mean replied._

"You have been charged not to force a choice on any involved in this."_ The first voice replied._

"I will _not_ release him. He is _mine_!" _The hissed reply came._

"YOU WILL OBEY THE WILL OF SHADDAI!'_ The booming reply echoed through the darkness, filling it to its brim._

_That instant, Derek's bonds shattered into a million tiny specs of light, then they disappeared leaving no trace of their presence._

_The relief that fell over the young man was so great that he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, and he fell into merciful slumber._

* * *

"Oh… man…." Derek groaned from the cockpit. "Get me the number off that truck…"

"You alright?" Nova asked from the back.

"Yeah…" He replied, the short conversation he'd heard moments ago still all too real. "Hey, Nova…?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Did you… hear voices earlier?"

The young woman didn't reply for several seconds and for a moment Derek thought she hadn't heard him.

"I did." She finally replied. "So, you heard them too?"

"I don't know what I heard." He replied, the sense of fear he'd had when he'd been trapped in that burning blackness started to well up again. He quashed it, knowing fear would serve only to get them into more trouble than he could afford right now.

Nova reached out from the back seat and gripped his shoulder. "I know you don't believe in demons, and I don't know if you believe in angels, but what you just heard was a conversation between one of each."

Silence fell between them.

"I don't guess you'll let me off without an 'I told you so.'" Derek replied quietly.

"I suppose I can save it for another time." Nova replied, sensing that her friend was more deeply troubled by the encounter than he let on.

"Thanks." He replied softly. "So, where are we?"

"We're just inside the gate. I didn't want to go through with you unconscious." Nova replied.

"Yeah, I guess that wasn't such a bad idea." He replied. "No telling what's on the other side of this thing."

"I'll go ahead and let the crew know we got here." Nova recorded a brief message, then sent it off. "Alright, let's see what's out here."

Derek nodded and steered the small plane through the gate exit.

It felt strange going through the portal again, almost like being pushed out of a narrow straw.

They broke through the event horizon and instantly stopped.

"Uh, Nova, I don't think this is a good place to be right now." Derek said, eye wide as he beheld a host of ships laid out before him. Ships of all sizes and classes they'd ever seen – and some they hadn't seen – listed in the Gamilon tech database were stationed in orbit around a giant, dark planet ringed with angry red clouds. Derek recognized the world almost instantly from the information in Starsha's message. "Get another message off the _Argo_." Derek told Nova. "We've got a problem."

* * *

"It's been twelve hours." Mark muttered to himself, anxious to hear from Nova and Derek. They were supposed to contact the _Argo_ when they reached the other side of the gate. _"Maybe the signal couldn't get through."_ He thought, trying to ease his worry. He felt like he could fall asleep right where he sat. There hadn't been anything to do since Wildstar and Nova went into the gate. Another shift had come and gone without word from the pair. With each passing hour Mark grew more nervous that something had happened to them.

"Incoming signal." Homer announced, pressing a finger to his headset, a look of concentration on his face. "It's them!" He exclaimed. "They made it through!"

"Who is sending the message?" Avatar asked.

"Uh, Nova." Homer replied absently as he listened to the message one more time to make sure he'd heard everything correctly.

Captain Avatar and Sandor both looked at Homer in concern.

"Where's Wildstar?" the Captain asked the comm officer.

"Oh, he's okay." Homer replied, sending out a reply to the scout ship letting them know that _Argo _had received their transmission. "Nova said he didn't react well to the trip, but he'll be fine."

The rest of the bridge crew were visibly relieved at this news. Even Dash, who never really said much of anything to anyone except Eager, let out a muffled expression of gratitude.

"Good." Avatar nodded in approval. "We will await their return."

"Wait!" Homer's hand flew back to his headset, adjusting it so he could hear something else coming through the radio. "Something's wrong! There's an enemy armada on the other side of that gate, Captain!" Homer turned to the Captain, face grim. "We won't be able to get through. They're swarmed around Balan – the waypoint on Starsha's map."

Silence fell between the officer and his captain. All eyes turned to Captain Avatar.

The old captain folded his hands and took a deep breath, thinking, praying for an answer.

The Captain looked up. "Tell them to gather the coordinates of every ship they can. Then come back as quietly as possible. If they're spotted, tell them to return immediately."

"Aye, Sir." Homer replied, then relayed the message to Nova and Derek.

A few minutes later another transmission came back.

"They said they'll get everything they can, Sir." Homer replied.

"Very good, Mr. Glitchman. Now, we wait."

* * *

Elazar held out the Guardiana amulet again, examining it for the thousandth time since he'd acquired it from the Sentinel that had sought his life.

"What am I to do with this foul thing?" Elazar asked the woman sitting next to him.

"It may be a tool of darkness, my friend, but it may also be a way to understand our enemy." Nuray of Guardiana, First of Nine, replied. She reached out and Elazar handed the amulet over to her.

The woman held out the round object, turning it this way and that in the dim light. Still staring at it she stood and walked towards the pod she had been bound to until recently.

Nuray touched the surface of the empty pod and said a few words Elazar didn't quite catch. The Guardianan held the amulet out above the pod and waited.

Several seconds later a series of clicks and indecipherable bleeps and whistles emanated from the pod.

Nuray nodded thoughtfully and stepped away from it, the amulet still in her hand.

"Here." She returned to Elazar. "I do not know what to do with it either." Nuray sat back down, handing the amulet back.

"What did you just do?" He asked, feeling the amulet quake just a bit. It hadn't even done that before.

"The pods have a limited capacity for analyzing certain objects. I asked it to analyze the amulet. It wasn't powerful enough to give me any useful information about it." Nuray replied.

"Hmm." Elazar let the amulet drop into his lap. He sighed. "At least it doesn't have a tracking device in it, like some of them do."

"Oh, it has one." Nuray replied, "But it is not like the others." She said. "That was one thing the pod _could_ tell me."

"What do you mean, 'not like the others'?" Elazar asked, a bit of concern in his face.

"Do not worry, my friend. The Sentinels cannot use it to trace our location. There seems to be something in that amulet that is triggered by proximity to something – what I have no way of knowing." Nuray replied.

A thought came to him. Elazar picked up the amulet again and stood. He held the talisman out in front of him and made a slow circuit around the world-core's central chamber.

Nuray watched him, wondering what he was doing. Every few feet he would stop and move the amulet around, almost like he was looking for something.

"What are you doing?" Nuray finally asked when Elazar approached the center of the room and crouched down, laying the amulet on the floor.

"I think this amulet… responds to the presence of… Guardianans." He replied, looking back at the woman with an expression of disbelief. "And you and your eight companions are not the only ones here. I feel it calling out to someone else."

Nuray cocked an eyebrow at Elazar. "You mean that witch Aurelia?"

"No, not her. She's seldom here on Phantom. There's another." Elazar picked up the amulet again and said to the world core, "Raise the stasis chamber."

Nuray looked on in amazement as a strange light appeared in the center of the floor and up from the ground floated a swirling container of light. In the midst of the stasis chamber a young woman rested.

Nuray looked at the young woman once, then twice, then again, lest her eyes be liars. "Who… is that?" Nuray asked.

"This is the girl I saved from the Sentinels – Constance Mariposa." Elazar supplied.

"You did not say she looked like this…" Nuray breathed.

"Why does it matter?" The man asked.

"_Look_ at me, Elazar." Nuray commanded. "And tell me you see no resemblance."

Elazar looked from his friend to the young woman. "Perhaps there is a bit of similarity." He replied. "But I don't see –"

"She has the facial structure – the elongated hands and fingers. Even her hair texture and color – they all echo the same genetic markers as so many of us…" Nuray approached the stasis chamber and laid a hand against the cool surface. "But there is something about this one that is different. She holds something that none of the rest of us does." Nuray looked at Elazar who stood staring at Nuray. "Can't you see it, Elazar?"

The man's eyes returned to the sleeping young woman. He looked at her more intensely this time, and as he did he remembered…

"I do now…" He whispered. "She's the one. She's the heir to Guardiana's throne. _That_ was why Aurelia brought her here to begin with." Understanding lit his face. "How could I not have seen it the instant I met her?"

"She looks like…" Nuray began, but could not finish her sentence.

"She looks like her mother. Yes, I know." Elazar said, "I hope she is well, wherever she may be."

"This amulet will be hers." Nuray said, confidence in her voice. "When it is time for her to wake – when we find someone who we can trust to take her to Guardiana, this amulet will guide her to its location."

Elazar nodded soberly. He reached out and touched the surface of the stasis chamber. A small opening appeared and through it, Elazar reached out and carefully hung the amulet around the neck of the sleeping princess.

He withdrew his arm and the opening sealed again. "Let us watch carefully for the coming of those who will take her home." Elazar said, remembering a time many years ago when another girl, this one much younger than Mariposa, had graced his presence.

"_If only I knew where she was."_ He thought. _"It would bring me great joy to see her again."_


End file.
